Cardinals smash five homers in rout of Orioles

BALTIMORE — Carlos Martinez struck out eight over six sharp innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals hit a season-high five home runs in an 11-2 rout of the struggling Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.

Rookie Paul DeJong homered, singled twice, scored three runs and had three RBIs to help St. Louis snap a three-game skid.

Matt Carpenter and Dexter Fowler connected in succession to cap a four-run sixth inning, Tommy Pham hit a two-run drive in the seventh and Jedd Gyorko added a solo shot in the ninth.

Coming off a four-hit shutout against Philadelphia, Martinez (6-5) gave up one run and four hits. The right-hander has 45 strikeouts over his last five starts.

The Cardinals arrived at Camden Yards having lost 10 of their previous 14 games, but their breakdown was certainly no worse than that of the Orioles, who were 25-16 on May 20 and now stand at 32-34.

Trey Mancini hit his 11th home run for Baltimore, an anticlimactic drive with two outs in the ninth.

Kevin Gausman (3-6) allowed five runs and nine hits over 52/3 innings. He was replaced by Gabriel Ynoa, who yielded three home runs.

After a sacrifice fly by Manny Machado got Baltimore to 2-1 in the third, DeJong hit a two-run drive in the fourth.

An RBI single by DeJong, a tworun drive by Carpenter and Fowler's home run made it 8-1 in the sixth.

Carpenter went 2-for-3 and is 17 for 38 (.447) since he moved into the leadoff spot on June 7.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RANGERS 10, MARINERS 4 Tyson Ross allowed just a pair of runs in his first start in 14 months and Carlos Gomez homered to help the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners. Ross (1-0) made his Rangers debut and started for the first time since opening day last year when he pitched for the Padres. He had been sidelined with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and picked up his first win since Aug. 31, 2015. He struck out five in 52/3 innings. Gomez had four RBIs after being sidelined four weeks with a strained right hamstring.

RED SOX 2, ASTROS 1 Mookie Betts hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, sending the Boston Red Sox over the Houston Astros. Betts hit his team-leading 12th homer, and third in three games. He led off with a drive into the Crawford Boxes in left field, connecting against Will Harris (2-2) into the Crawford Boxes in left field. Brian McCann tied for Houston in the seventh, homering into the upper deck in right field off Drew Pomeranz.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CUBS 9, PIRATES 5 Anthony Rizzo almost led off his third straight game with a homer, losing his bid on a replay reversal, before helping key a six-run rally in the ninth inning that sent the Chicago Cubs over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs won for just the third time in nine games. Manager Joe Maddon wasn’t around to see the comeback — he was ejected in the first inning after Rizzo’s drive into the Allegheny River was ruled a foul ball.