BALTIMORE (AP) — When the Baltimore Orioles are in a home-run groove, anyone in the lineup is capable of hitting the ball out — regardless of who’s serving it up.

Just ask the St. Louis Cardinals, who have absorbed two straight whippings from the AL East leaders.

Caleb Joseph homered in his fifth consecutive game, Nelson Cruz hit his 30th and Delmon Young also went deep as the Orioles beat John Lackey and the Cardinals 10-3 Saturday.

All three home runs came with a man on against Lackey (1-1), making his second start since coming from Boston in a July 31 trade. The right-hander gave up nine runs and 13 hits in five-plus innings to fall to 14-8 lifetime against Baltimore.

The Orioles have hit nine homers in winning the first two games of the three-game set by a collective 22-5 score. Baltimore has captured seven straight series and leads the AL East by six games, its largest margin since September 1997.

“Obviously, they are a hot team right now,” Lackey said. “You got to give them a lot of credit. They’re swinging the bats well. Hits were falling in. A couple of them were hit real hard and they went out of the yard.”

Joseph, a rookie, had three homers in his first 48 games before his recent power surge. The club record for homers in successive games is six, by Reggie Jackson and Chris Davis.

“Maybe seven, eight months ago I was thinking about hanging it up,” Joseph said. “Every day in the big leagues is such a blessing, and especially to be on this team with this group of guys and to be in first place.”

Baltimore leads the majors with 147 homers and has connected in eight straight games. Over the last two days, the Orioles have gotten home runs from eight different players.

“This is a team that is swinging the bat well,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “When you have some confidence in the entire lineup, it doesn’t matter who is pitching. It’s just another one of those days. I don’t think there have been many times this year when we said, ‘It’s one of those days,’ two days in a row. They just kept swinging.”

Ubaldo Jimenez (4-8) returned from a stint on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle to earn his first win since May 8. He allowed three runs, six hits and three walks over six innings.

Jimenez, who signed a four-year, $50 million contract during the offseason, was 0-5 with a 10.55 ERA in day games and 1-6 at home.

“The guys have been on a good run in the last month, last month-and-a-half and so I am very happy to be part of it,” the right-hander said.

Jon Jay homered and had two RBIs and Jhonny Peralta hit two doubles for the Cardinals, now 7-12 in interleague play.

An RBI double by Peralta gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead in the first, but Matt Holliday was thrown out while trying to score on the hit.

After Jay hit his second homer in 266 at-bats in the second, Baltimore went in front in the bottom half when Young doubled in a run and Joseph homered.

Cruz connected in the third after an infield hit by Adam Jones for a 5-2 lead. It was his first homer since July 25.

Young homered to cap a three-run fifth, and the Orioles chased Lackey in the sixth with three straight singles.

— Associated Press —

BALTIMORE (AP) — On a night in which the Orioles wore 1954 throwback uniforms to mark the 60th anniversary of their arrival in Baltimore, the team administered an old-fashioned whipping on the St. Louis Cardinals.

J.J. Hardy hit two of the Orioles’ season-high six home runs, and Baltimore cruised to a 12-2 victory Friday night to move a season-high 17 games over .500.

It was a rare blowout for the Orioles, who scored three runs or fewer in 11 of their 20 previous games and have played 63 games decided by one or two runs.

“Anytime you can get a big lead and come out of the game early it’s nice,” said Hardy, who left in the seventh inning. “It’s fun just to be able to relax and watch the game.”

Hardy hit a solo shot and a three-run drive for his 11th multihomer game. Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Chris Davis and Ryan Flaherty also connected as Baltimore (66-49) reached double figures in runs for the first time since April 24.

“Baseball’s full of circles,” Machado said. “One day we’re going to win a game 2-1, 1-0 and the other day we’re going to blow a team out. It’s just part of the game.”

Chris Tillman (9-5) gave up two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He was pulled after a two-run drive by A.J. Pierzynski made it 12-2.

“It was one of those nights where everything kind of clicked for me and I was able to execute most of my pitches,” Tillman said.

The result was Baltimore’s first win over the Cardinals in 11 years. The Orioles — who were the St. Louis Browns before relocating — went 1-2 in St. Louis in 2003 and were swept in three games at Camden Yards in 2011.

The Cardinals and Browns once shared Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, but now the teams rarely run into each other.

In this one, a three-run drive by Machado and Hardy’s first home run helped Baltimore go up 5-0 against Justin Masterson (1-1) in the third. That was enough to propel the AL East-leaders to their ninth win in 12 games.

Making his second start for the Cardinals since being traded from Cleveland, Masterson allowed five runs and seven hits in two-plus innings. He also walked three, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch.

“This is not the best thing you want to do when you come to a new team,” Masterson said.

“He couldn’t find the plate tonight and when he did, his pitches were more elevated than they were last time out,” manager Mike Matheny said. “When he elevated the ball, they elevated it as well.”

Hardy connected with two on in the fourth off Nick Greenwood for an 8-0 lead. At that point, every Orioles starter either had a hit or scored a run.

Baltimore leads the majors with 144 home runs and has at least one in seven straight games. The Orioles are 55-25 when they homer.

The blowout was sweeter for the Orioles because many of the team’s former greats, such as Brooks Robinson and Cap Ripken Jr., were on hand to watch it before being honored in a ceremony afterward.

“Yeah, I think it’s awesome,” Tillman said. “It’s a good night to do what we did, with all these guys around here, and it’s fun. We were hanging out with them in the clubhouse.”

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Adam Wainwright recovered from a shaky start to earn his 14th win, tying for the major league lead, and rookie Kolten Wong homered twice to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.

Jhonny Peralta’s two-run double keyed a three-run first off Brandon Workman and Wong had his first multihomer game. The Cardinals took two of three from their stripped-down opponents, who beat them in the World Series last fall but are in last place in the AL East.

Wainwright (14-6) needed 66 pitches to slog through the first three innings after the start was delayed by rain for more than an hour for the second straight night. The 6-foot-7 right-hander retired 11 in a row before Boston put two on with two outs in the seventh.

Manager Mike Matheny left his ace in and Yoenis Cespedes took a third strike on a full-count curveball, catcher Tony Cruz sprinting to the dugout before home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom’s call.

Wainwright has won at least 14 games each of the last three seasons. Wily Peralta won his 14th game earlier Thursday for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who are one game ahead of St. Louis.

Workman (1-5) retired nine straight before Wong lined a 1-0 pitch over the right-field wall with one out in the fifth to put the Cardinals up 4-2. Wong then added his ninth homer in the seventh, a 423-foot shot off Craig Breslow.

Mike Napoli and Christian Vasquez each drove in a run in the third, Wainwright’s roughest inning. He had seven strikeouts and allowed seven hits, four of them in the third.

— Associated Press —