Baltimore Orioles at St. Louis Cardinals

With a pitching staff under siege by injuries, innings limits and sporadic ineffectiveness, the Cardinals entered Thursday’s bullpen game needing all the help from their batting order that they could get. Blaze Jordan provided some early run support, launching his first career Busch Stadium home run to put some wind behind the sails of the fleet of Cardinal arms destined to navigate the series finale against the Orioles at Busch Stadium. The rookie third baseman Jordan planted a three-run blast onto Freese’s Lawn to open the game’s scoring in the bottom of the second. With six different pitchers combining to cover the nine innings, the Cardinals held on to beat the Orioles, 7-5. But by the game’s end, Jordan wasn’t able to bask in the milestone moment. In a key spot in the eighth inning, Cardinals reliever George Soriano threw toward Jordan at third, aiming to aggressively cut down the lead runner, Gunnar Henderson, who represented the potential tying run. Jordan fielded the ball and tagged Henderson out on a close play at third, but he paid a physical toll, planting awkwardly with his left ankle in the process. After an on-field evaluation, Jordan left the playing surface gingerly with the trainer, not appearing to put much weight on the left leg.