Folks, we have a winning streak!
For the first time in 2025 the Baltimore Orioles have won three games in a row. It was Charlie Morton’s best start of the season and a three-run homer from Dylan Carlson that led the O’s over the Cardinals 5-2 on Memorial Day afternoon at Camden Yards.
Morton is the story of the day. The 41-year-old’s struggles this season are well-documented. Entering the day, the Orioles were 0-12 in games that Morton pitched, including both starts and relief appearances. That unfortunate streak came to an end today.
No matter how you slice it, this was Morton’s best start of the season. Over six innings he allowed just two runs on four hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. He was staying ahead of hitters, getting tons of whiffs on his curveball (45% whiff rate), and taking advantage of an admittedly wide strike zone from home plate umpire Tripp Gibson.
Both of the runs Morton allowed came on one swing from Pedro Pagés. The Cardinals catcher whacked an 0-2 breaking ball that was well inside, and kept it just within the left field foul pole for a two-run homer in the fifth.
Morton made the afternoon feel effortless, even though there was traffic on the bases. He worked around his own throwing error in the first inning, a lead-off walk in the fourth, and a lead-off double in the sixth to land zeroes in each of those frames. Ryan O’Hearn helped out with a nice sliding catch in right field for the final out of the second inning. But it really was smooth sailing.
Morton has lowered his season ERA from 9.76 on May 7 to 7.09 now. Sure, it’s still ugly, but it is a big improvement over where it was, and it reflects the 3.98 ERA he has in the month of May. Finally, it seems, the Orioles rotation is stringing together competent starts.
The Orioles’ offense all came in the first four innings.
Jackson Holliday led off the first inning with a single. Ramón Urías followed with a ground ball to Cardinals third baseman Nolan Gorman, who airmailed the throw to second base. Instead of a double-play, the O’s now had runners on the corners with no outs. The most they could do with that was score one run on a Gunnar Henderson fielder’s choice to bring Holliday home before Cardinals starter Erick Fedde got out of the jam.
In the third inning they scored once more. Dylan Carlson led off with a single and stole second base. Maverick Handley laid down a sac bunt to advance the runner, and Holliday cashed in with an RBI single to bring home Carlson.
The fourth inning featured the aforementioned Carlson three-run shot. His long ball scored O’Hearn, who had singled, and Heston Kjerstad, who reached when his ground ball was fielded and then thrown by Brendan Donovan into O’Hearn’s noggin as he was running to second base. O’Hearn popped up from his slide on the play, jokingly rubbed his head and flashed a thumbs up to the bench. The 5-0 lead that came on Carlson’s homer likely took care of any ill effects that O’Hearn may have felt.
From the sixth inning on, it was all quiet for both teams. The final 12 Cardinals were retired in order by Morton, Seranthony Domínguez, Yennier Cano, and Félix Bautista. Domínguez and Bautista looked particularly dominant. The former’s sweeper was dipping all over the place while the latter had some of his best velocity of the season.
All in all this was one of those wins that just felt…easy? It’s not the kind of win that these Orioles are accustomed to. They don’t win much at all, but especially not games where it feels like they were in control all the way. But that is what we had on our plates this Memorial Day, right next to our hot dog (or two) and potato salad.
Morton will rightly get the headlines for his best start of the season. He finally looked like the $15 million man he is meant to be. That is what the Orioles need him to be for the rest of the season.
Carlson had to feel good hitting a big homer and collecting two hits against his former club, a team that “gave up” on him. It’s big for the Orioles too. This team needs more offensive production from someone, anyone! Carlson is giving them that lately.
And man, it will be fun to see O’Hearn at the all-star game. It won’t be a pity nod either. He just keeps hitting. He is now batting .340 with a .968 OPS. He entered the day fourth in AL in batting average, second in on-base percentage, and sixth in slugging. The guy is playing like an MVP candidate (albeit a down-ballot one) on a team that has struggled for two months. That deserves a ton of league-wide appreciation.
Do we think the Orioles can extend their first win streak of the season to four games? They have to feel good about the pitcher they are sending out. Tomoyuki Sugano (4-3, 3.07 ERA) will face righty Andre Pallante (4-3, 4.18 ERA). First pitch is 6:35 at Camden Yards.