There will be every opportunity for the Orioles horrible lineup to right itself on this nine-game road trip.
For as bad as they have been – and from 1-5 in the order this season they have been bottom five in MLB – the caliber of pitching that is lining up for the Cardinals, A’s and Rockies bodes incredibly well for the chances to have a successful trip, even one of this length. Baltimore is trying to remain on the fringes of the fight for the final Wild Card spot and immediately cashed in at St. Louis, scoring four times in the third inning and eight times in the fifth to win a laugher, 13-1, at Busch Stadium.
It was exactly what they needed.
They pounded a bad lefty starter with an ERA approaching 6.00 – not the norm for this crew – and chewed through bullpen arms and the Cardinals were already struggling to figure out who was going to start Wednesday and Thursday. And for as suspect as that may be, we dissected the way the Athletics and Rockies pitch in their home ballpark, and it is the worst in baseball by far.
“It was a great offensive performance all the way around,” manager Craig Albernaz said.
The Orioles flooded the base paths from the onset in a way we don’t see very often. Jackson Holliday continues to man the lead-off, he grew up in St. Louis with his dad, Matt, a star in this ballpark, and reached the base the first four times at the plate. Pete Alonso, batting right behind him, did the same thing and launched a three-run homer and drove in four, continuing a ridiculous stretch where he’s hit safely in 16 of the 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, who is dealing with a calf issue he suffered about 10 days ago in Tampa, seemed to experience discomfort in that area midway through the game and headed to the clubhouse. Albernaz, who tried to play this lingering issue off as a “cramp” when Alonso first came up lame, said after the game it was “precautionary” to get Alonso off his feet and snapped at reporters doing their job. (Even in a victory this wanna-be skipper finds a way to look silly, while the MASN broadcast, with an embedded PR guy in the dugout who definitely can’t throw a baseball and couldn’t ever pretend to be a “reporter” spoke at length about Alonso pointing to his calf during the game).
Some clowns were made for each other. They can’t even keep their stories straight.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, also delivered a home-run blast and drove in three and the Orioles strung together quality at bat after at bat, getting deep in counts and pounding through a slew of runs with small ball .The only person not getting in on the act was the Orioles best player, Gunnar Henderson, whose funk is now beyond the ridiculous and sublime.
He has a sub-.700 OPS since the 2025 All Star break, he has four RBIs this month and just 22 on the road all season and can do nothing with runners in scoring position. It’s staggering. He came up with teammates on first and third and no outs in the first and popped out. He is batting below .200 over his last 35 games. The only time he’s looked decent lately was when he was dropped for the fifth hole, but of course he hit third Tuesday.
Chris Bassitt has no problems with the sagging Cardinals. Staked to a big early lead he yielded a solo homer and that was it. Even spending 37 minutes watching the Orioles bat around in the fifth didn’t derail him. Even with the day off Monday, given some recent bullpen usage getting 18 or more outs of out Bassitt to start the road trip was certainly an objective.
“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 Orioles are now 12-8 in their last 20 road games, a big turnaround from how they plated away from home up until around July 4.
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