The Orioles walked into Busch Stadium and wasted no time making the most of a favorable setup on this nine-game road trip. Baltimore, still hanging around the edge of the Wild Card chase, lit up St. Louis for a 13-1 rout Tuesday night, blowing the game open with four runs in the third and eight more in the fifth.
This was the kind of night the Orioles have been waiting for from a lineup that has spent much of the season buried near the bottom of MLB from 1-5. Against a left-handed starter carrying an ERA near 6.00, Baltimore pounced early, then kept the pressure on as the Cardinals cycled through bullpen arms and were already scrambling to figure out their pitching plans for Wednesday and Thursday.
“It was a great offensive performance all the way around,” manager Craig Albernaz said.
Jackson Holliday set the tone from the top. Batting leadoff in the ballpark where he grew up around the game while his father, Matt, starred there, Holliday reached base in each of his first four plate appearances.
Pete Alonso, hitting right behind him, matched that start and added the thunder, crushing a three-run homer and finishing with four RBIs. Alonso has now hit safely in 16 of his last 17 games.
“It was really cool,” Holliday said of playing in this ballpark on the MASN post-game show. ‘Obviously, I grew up coming to these games, and coming out for BP and watching my dad play here for a long time.”
Alonso’s night included a concern in the middle innings. He is already managing a calf issue he suffered about 10 days ago in Tampa, and he appeared to feel something in that area before heading to the clubhouse. Albernaz initially brushed it off as a “cramp,” then later said it was "precautionary" to get Alonso off his feet.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand also joined the power surge, delivering a home run and driving in three. Baltimore kept stringing together quality at-bats, working counts and turning the game into a parade around the bases with a mix of power and small ball.
The one regular who didn’t join the fun was Gunnar Henderson, whose slump keeps getting harder to ignore. He entered the night with a sub-.700 OPS since the 2025 All Star break, just four RBIs this month, and only 22 RBIs on the road all season.
With runners on first and third and no outs in the first inning, he popped out. He is batting below .200 over his last 35 games, and the only recent stretch that looked remotely productive came when he was dropped to fifth in the order.
On Tuesday, though, he was back hitting third.
Chris Bassitt had no trouble making the lead hold up. After Baltimore handed him a huge cushion, he allowed one solo homer and nothing more, even with the Orioles’ fifth-inning explosion stretching the game deep into the inning. After a day off Monday and with recent bullpen usage in mind, getting 18 or more outs from Bassitt was part of the plan.
"He looked great today - no walks, threw a ton of strikes," Albernaz said.
"I'm just happy that I feel good," Bassitt said, after missing much of the season with a back procedure.
The win pushed Baltimore to 12-8 in its last 20 road games, a sharp improvement from the way it had been playing away from home before around July 4.
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