Maikel Franco smacked a three-run homer, Bruce Zimmerman pitched five strong innings and the Baltimore Orioles routed the visiting New York Mets 10-3 in the opener of a two-game series on Tuesday.
Anthony Santander had a solo home run, and Pat Valaika had two doubles and three RBIs for Baltimore, which has won five of six. Freddy Galvis had three hits and two runs scored.
After scorings 18 runs on 21 hits against the Cleveland Indians on Sunday, the Orioles scored 10 unanswered runs on Tuesday and collected 16 hits off of four Mets pitchers.
Zimmermann (4-3) allowed two runs on two hits and tied his career high with seven strikeouts. In his last three starts, Zimmermann is 2-0 and has allowed five runs in 15 1/3 innings (2.93 ERA).
Pete Alonso homered twice for the Mets, who managed four hits, just two after the first inning.
After getting knocked out in the first inning of his last outing, Mets starter David Peterson (1-5) could not make it past the third, departing after allowing four runs on eight hits in 2 2/3 innings. He saw his ERA climb to 6.32.
Things started well for New York when Francisco Lindor walked with one out and Alonso connected with a 2-0 fastball for his eighth homer of the season with two outs in the first.
Baltimore took the lead for good in the second. Pedro Severino led off with a single and Franco doubled him to third. Both scored on Valaika’s double and Valaika came around on Cedric Mullins’ double one out later.
Valaika struck again in the third when his double scored Galvis to make it 4-2. Mullins doubled and scored on Trey Mancini’s single in the fourth.
The Orioles broke it open in the fifth. Galvis singled, Severino walked and Franco lifted an 0-1 sinker from Robert Gsellman into the second deck in left, increasing the lead to 8-2 with his seventh homer of the season.
Baltimore increased the lead to 9-2 in the sixth when Ryan Mountcastle, the reigning American League Player of the Week, singled home Santander, who later homered in the eighth to make it 10-2.
Alonso hit his second homer in the ninth.
–Field Level Media