ST. LOUIS (AP) — Juan Yepez homered and Miles Mikolas pitched seven strong innings, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 10-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.
Paul Goldschmidt drove in three runs for St. Louis, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Brendan Donovan added a two-run double to the Cards’ 11-hit attack.
Baltimore had its season-best three-game winning streak halted.
Yepez continued a sizzling start to his MLB career. He has hit safely in all seven games since being called up on May 3. He hit a homer in the second inning off Spenser Watkins (0-1) and reached base safely in 13 of his first 25 plate appearances.
“There were a lot of people that didn’t believe in me,” the 24-year-old Yepez said. “Now that they’re seeing me here, I say, ‘thanks to them for actually giving me more motivation to work harder.’ Being here is like proving them wrong.”
St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol is taking extra pleasure in Yepez’s success.
“Each at-bat is personal to him,” Marmol said. “You can tell that the kid has been told for a long time that this is impossible. He’s enjoying proving a lot of people wrong.”
Yepez’s seven-game streak is the longest by a St. Louis player to start a career since Magneuris Sierra hit in his first nine games in 2017. Yepez went 2 for 5 and is hitting .444.
“If you told me this five years ago, I’d say, ‘you’re lying,’ “Yepez said. ”I was talking to my parents last night and they said, ‘Son, we’ve been crying so much this week.’ It’s a dream, a dream and a blessing.”
Yepez, who is 12 for 27, is the seventh player in franchise history to have 12 or more hits through his first seven games.
Mikolas (3-1) allowed one run on four hits. He struck out three and walked one. Mikolas…
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