Tuesday night marked the beginning of a nine-game three-city road trip for the Baltimore Orioles. Leaving their mark on the Midwest, the Orioles pummeled the St. Louis Cardinals (66-67) by a score of 13-1. The team produced those runs on 16 hits and it seemed like the only thing they didn’t hit was the Gateway Arch.
Among the Orioles’ 16 hits were 6 extra-base hits, 4 doubles and 2 homeruns. The team recorded a hit in six of the game’s nine innings with five players having a mulit-hit night. Of the starting lineup, Samuel Basallo (0 for 5, 4 K’s) and Gunnar Henderson (0 for 4, BB) were the only ones who didn’t participate in the hit fest.
The start of the game gave no indication of what was going to happen. The Orioles wasted a no-out, runners at the corners situation in the first inning and went three up and three down in the second inning; the final two outs of the second were strike outs looking.
The team’s eye sight improved in the third inning with Pete Alonso (4 for 4, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI) hitting a three-run homerun with no outs and Christian Encarnacion-Strand (2 for 5, 2 R, 3 RBI) adding a two-out solo homerun.
Another three-up, three-down inning preceded an 8 run outburst in the fifth inning. Back-to-back singles by Jackson Holliday (3 for 6, 2 R, RBI) and Alonso and a Henderson walk loaded the bases. Coby Mayo then hit a RBI-single and CES followed that with a two-RBI single. The bases were then loaded once again when Christian Franklin was hit by a pitch. A bases loaded walk by Dylan Beavers (2 for 4, 2B, R, 2 RBI, BB) produced a run as did a Leody Taveras (2 for 5, 2 R, 2 RBI) 2-RBI single, a Holliday RBI-single and an Alonso RBI-double. All 8 runs in the inning were scored before recording the final two outs of the inning.
Back-to-back doubles by Franklin and Beavers in the sixth capped off the Orioles’ scoring.
Enjoying all of the offense was starter Chris Bassitt (5-4) who allowed just one run on a Nathan Church homerun in the third inning among the 6 hits he scattered over 6.2 innings pitched. Bassitt struck out 5 without a walk as well. Yennier Cano completed the seventh inning and Anthony Nunez allowed one hit while striking out five over the eighth and ninth innings.
It was a fun game to watch, that is for everyone but the Cardinals and their fans. Ain’t the Budweiser cold!?
I imagine the Shane Baz watched this game from the dugout and wondered why some form of this hit fest doesn’t occur in his starts.
2026 Record: 64-68
Next Game: Wed. 8/26 @ 7:45 pm @ St. Louis Cardinals
