The St. Louis Cardinals accomplished something on Wednesday that no team had been able to do in two years: sweep the Baltimore Orioles during a regular-season series. (The Orioles were, of course, swept by the Texas Rangers last postseason.) The Cardinals took Monday's series opener by a 6-3 final, and then scored a pair of victories on Wednesday: first prevailing in the completion of Tuesday's suspended game by a 3-1 mark (box score) and then scoring a come-from-behind 5-4 victory (box score) in the intended getaway day series finale.
Second baseman Brendan Donovan provided the key hit, plating three runs (including himself) on a double that turned into a little-league home-run thanks to a throwing error by catcher James McCann. Here's a look at that play in whole:
LITTLE LEAGUE HOME RUN!! #ForTheLou pic.twitter.com/gG4ZUKWIeT
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 22, 2024
Prior to Wednesday, the Orioles had not been swept in a multi-game regular-season series since falling to the Detroit Tigers on May 13-15, 2022. In all, they went 106 series between sweeps, tying them for the second-longest such streak in Major League Baseball history, and by far the longest since integration.
- St. Louis Cardinals: 125 series (1942-44)
- New York Giants: 106 series (1903-05), Baltimore Orioles: 106 series (2022-24)
- New York Yankees: 83 series (1922-24)
- Philadelphia Athletics: 74 series (1904-06)
The Orioles had only recently avoided a sweep at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays thanks to a walk-off home run by Adley Rutschman. It's worth noting that Rutschman made his big-league debut on May 21, 2022, or about a week after the streak began. As such, this represents the first time he's experienced the unkind side of a big-league sweep. The wait is hardly so long for most players.
Wednesday's losses drop the Orioles to 29-18 on the season. The Cardinals, meanwhile, are now up to 23-26 after a sluggish start to the new year.