BALTIMORE -- For five years, Drew Rom dreamed of making it to the mound at Camden Yards. The Orioles’ fourth-round pick in 2018, Rom remained a well-ranked prospect as he climbed methodically up Baltimore's ranks, the farm system morphing from moribund into arguably baseball’s best around him. But when he finally earned his first big league promotion in May, Rom watched from the Orioles' bullpen for two days without entering a game. It was the closest to the Oriole Park mound he got.

Until Wednesday, when Rom returned as a member of the Cardinals -- six weeks after Baltimore traded him to St. Louis -- and promptly pitched the game of his life. Backed by the suddenly red-hot Richie Palacios’ third homer in two days, Rom spent his fifth career Major League start blanking his former organization, hurling 5 1/3 scoreless innings to set up his first big league victory in St. Louis’ 1-0 win over first-place Baltimore.

“This one feels a little bit sweeter,” Rom said. “Pitching well against some of your best friends, and getting your first win against them, especially when they’ve been such a high-powered offense all season .. couldn’t have asked for any better.” 

Acquired as the most big league-ready prospect in the Aug. 1 deal for Jack Flaherty, Rom was MLB Pipeline's No. 18 Orioles prospect at the time of the trade but blocked somewhat in the Charm City. His opportunity came immediately in St. Louis, where he replaced Flaherty in the rotation. The results were less immediate. Rom struggled to a 7.79 ERA over his first four MLB starts, completing five innings in only one of them.

But he looked like a different pitcher Wednesday night. With his three fastballs all ticking up a notch, Rom retired 14 of his first 17 hitters and didn’t allow a hit until Jorge Mateo’s two-out infield single in the fifth. He struck out seven, easily a career high and more than he accumulated in all but seven of his 21 Minor League starts this season, to outpitch Kyle Gibson and help the Cardinals play spoiler in the American League East race.

“With that lineup, if you can blank them a couple of times, that shows maybe you’re meant to be here,” Rom said. “Maybe you have the stuff to get outs at the big league level.”

Said Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol: “Outstanding outing.”

Asked earlier this week to predict his emotions when he took the mound Wednesday, Rom figured he’d experience “a whole mix -- excited, anxious,” adding, “It’s going to feel good to take that mound on a professional level, when I’ve been dreaming about doing that for the last five years.” 

“It’s definitely a little weird walking past that clubhouse and knowing all my dudes are in there,” Rom said this week. “I was there for five years. At that point, it’s a family.”

A few days later, Rom’s dream became reality, the kind he couldn’t have dreamed up any better. Pitching against the team he still knows best, Rom pitched like someone who knows the Orioles as well as anyone, deceptively changing arm angles and locating 63 of his 93 pitches (68 percent) for strikes. Of the 11 batted balls he elicited, only four were struck hard enough to eclipse 99 mph, per Statcast.

“He had electric stuff,” Palacios said. “He did a great job against his old team, so that was pretty sick to watch.”

Said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde: “Give him credit. He pitched really well.”

Rom’s seven strikeouts were the most by a Cardinals left-hander in one of his first five starts since Tim Cooney punched out seven on July 19, 2015, against the Mets. The victory kept St. Louis from its first losing season since 2007 for at least another day and marked the first time since Aug. 3-12, 2018, that the club won every series in a road trip of three cities or more.

Speaking at his locker postgame, Rom couldn’t deny the extra satisfaction that came with earning his first career win against his former club -- and the “bragging rights” he won along with it. But he also stressed that he harbors no grudges against the Orioles and wished them the best going forward in what could end up being a very special autumn in Baltimore.  

“Those are always going to be some of my best friends, and if they end up winning everything, I still get a ring, so that’ll be nice,” Rom said. “[This year] was definitely a complete 180 from what I thought would happen. If you asked me at the beginning of this year where I’d be now, I would not have said in the big leagues with the Cardinals. But I’m so happy every single day to be here.”