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Ray was only up for a couple days. He’s being sent down in favor of Pablo Reyes, as the Brewers were in need of someone capable of playing the infield.

The Cardinals stormed all the way back after falling behind 3-0 early in this game and Winn led the charge. He scored their first run, hit a RBI double the following inning, and set the table for their final insurance run late. It’s been a tale of two seasons for Winn so far: first struggling before his stint on the injured list with a sprained ankle and then having an .830 OPS with 13 extra-base hits in 32 games since.

The Orioles made Helsley sweat a little bit here. Jackson Holliday laced a single on the first pitch of the inning and they eventually put the tying runs on base before falling short. He is one of the more secure closers in the league.

Mikolas’ disappointing season continued with another dud here. Even after his lineup stormed back to grab him a lead, he couldn’t complete five innings to qualify for the win. He didn’t have a single one-two-three inning and was objectively lucky to only allow four runs. It should be noted that he pitched through steady rain here and visibly wet field conditions. His next start is scheduled to come at home against the Royals.

While the rest of the Orioles’ season has all but fallen apart, Holliday has turned a corner at the plate. All three of his batted balls in this game were hard-hit and the newly minted lead-off hitter has a .297/.336/.466 slash line over his last 30 games. There aren’t many second baseman who have looked more potent at the plate lately.

Povich’s night started strong with three scoreless frames and six strikeouts. Then, he began to fall apart as the Cardinals rallied in the fourth inning with Jordan Walker yanking a two-out, two-run single through the hole before Brendan Donovan hammered a home run the following inning. Povich was pulled shortly after and this start wound up as another where he struggled to maintain his effectiveness as he moved deeper into a game. It should be noted that he pitched through steady rain here and visibly wet field conditions. His next start is scheduled to come against the Mariners in Seattle.

It’s difficult to ignore Cameron’s impressive start to his career. He went toe-to-toe with Hunter Greene in this game and straight up out-pitched him despite Greene’s average slider velocity – 91 mph – nearly matching Cameron’s average fastball velocity – 92 mph. Nevertheless, Cameron deftly mixed his changeup, cutter, curveball, fastball and slider to keep the Reds’ hitters off-balance all night. His efficiency is remarkable while throwing so much junk as he threw a first pitch strike to eight of the first nine hitters he faced and it took him only 83 pitches to work through six innings. He was pulled in the seventh after a walk, but Angel Zerpa tiptoed out of a jam to keep that inherited runner from scoring. Cameron has now completed six innings and allowed one run or fewer in each of his four starts as a big leaguer. Yet, his next turn in the rotation is in question with Seth Lugo’s imminent return from the injured list.

The Royals called on Estévez to put out a fire in the eighth inning after Spencer Steer cut their lead to one. He forced Will Benson to pop out on the first pitch he saw and then breezed through the ninth inning to earn his 15th save of the season. He now has a 1.85 ERA and has held off Lucas Ergec well for ninth inning duties.

Runs were tough to come by in this game and Witt had a hand in two of the three his Royals would score on the way to a victory. First, with a double off Hunter Greene in the fifth inning and then a sacrifice fly in the seventh. That sac fly wound up bringing home an important insurance run as the Reds rallied for a run of their own in the eighth inning, but fell short of mounting a comeback. While Witt’s had another great season, his power has lagged a bit with just five home runs through more than a third of the schedule.

Steer had two separate run-scoring singles and that was the extent of the Reds’ offense in this one. He hit two of his batted balls at least 98 mph and has put a disastrous April behind him with a solid .765 OPS in May.

The juxtaposition of Greene and the soft-tossing Noah Cameron in this game was stark. While both pitched well, Greene was outdueled mostly because his pitch count climbed above 40 through his first two innings and he was never able to quite settle in. His fastball command was a bit erratic and it only forced four whiffs on 28 total swings. Instead, it was often far off the plate and able to be laid off of or caught too much of it and was fought off for a whopping 11 foul balls. He also took a line drive off his ankle in the fourth inning and stayed in the game after being looked at by trainers. This wasn’t a bad start by any means, but Greene has elevated his game so much this season that more strikeouts are expected. He’ll look to get back on track next time out against the Brewers.