By admin 
ST. LOUIS – A few hours before the Orioles’ series opener against the Cardinals, Jackson Holliday spoke about what he expected it to feel like to play in the ballpark where he grew up watching his dad play.
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The last time Holliday hit at Busch Stadium was when he was 12 years old. A decade later, Holliday said he was going to focus on putting one out during batting practice first.
“I’ll try my best in BP, start there,” the leadoff hitter said. “Hopefully, get a few knocks this week.”
This week? Try Tuesday.
Holliday sparked the Orioles’ offense to one of its most impressive outputs of the season – and the ballcub to one of its best victories of the year – by smacking three of the team’s 16 hits en route to Baltimore’s 13-1 win. The offensive output is tied for the Orioles’ highest this season, while their 12-run margin of victory is their best of the year.
But Holliday, whose parents and grandparents were in attendance, might not have been the happiest player on the Orioles to be in St. Louis this week. Pete Alonso, the Orioles’ No. 2 hitter, entered with Ruthian numbers at Busch Stadium, and they became even more like The Great Bambino’s after the Polar Bear’s 4-for-4 performance.
Alonso blasted a three-run homer in the third inning and then smacked two more hits to follow Holliday in the fifth to keep the quarter in the merry-go-round of Baltimore’s season-best eight-run frame. Alonso’s 1.243 OPS at Busch Stadium is the best of any player with at least 75 plate appearances in the ballpark, and it’s the slugger’s best at any MLB stadium in which he has at least 50 plate appearances.
In total, Holliday and Alonso combined for seven hits, four runs, five RBIs and two extra-base hits.
The blowout win starts a pivotal nine-game road trip off on a much-needed high note. The Orioles (64-68) are temporarily two games back of the Cleveland Guardians for the third and final wild-card spot in the mediocre American League. Baltimore’s next eight games come against a Cardinals team that’s now below .500, the AL-worst Athletics and the NL-worst Rockies.
Long before the offensive outburst, the first inning had a feeling of deja vu for Baltimore’s bats. Holliday reached base on an error and advanced to third on an Alonso single, but they were stranded after three straight Orioles failed to hit the ball out of the infield against Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore.
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Two innings later, the Orioles got runners on the corners again thanks to a Leody Taveras single and a perfectly executed hit-and-run between the outfielder and Holliday, and Alonso ensured it wouldn’t go to waste by clobbering a 435-foot long ball – his 31st of the season – to left-center field. The big fly continued Alonso’s scorching-hot stretch since the trade deadline, during which he’s hit an eye-popping .416 with a 1.237 OPS. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, a lefty masher who’s helped the Orioles improve against southpaws since he joined the team in mid-July, then put Baltimore up 4-0.
The explosion in the fifth began with the first five batters – and nine of the first 10 – reaching base. Coby Mayo hit a 107 mph line drive off shortstop JJ Wetherholt’s glove for an RBI single to knock Liberatore out of the game. Encarnacion-Strand then hit a ground ball with eyes for a two-run single to put the Orioles up 7-1.
Taveras, one of the Orioles’ best hitters with runners in scoring position this season, delivered with a two-run single with the bases loaded, followed by an RBI single from Holliday and an RBI double from Alonso to put the Orioles ahead 12-1. Baltimore tacked on another run in the sixth on back-to-back doubles from Christian Franklin and Dylan Beavers.
Manager Craig Albernaz then pulled Alonso, who has been managing a calf injury over the past 10 days, in the bottom of the fifth.
The victory wasn’t just because of the offense, though. Chris Bassitt was steady throughout the evening to deliver 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball. The long run came on a Nathan Church solo homer in the third.
The start was perhaps Bassitt’s best of the season – one that was marred by back pain and then surgery to fix it. But the 37-year-old right-hander, who was signed for $18.5 million to stabilize the rotation, has delivered three straight solid starts since returning from the injured list.
The Orioles will look to take the series Wednesday with ace Kyle Bradish on the mound opposite Cardinals right-hander Michael McGreevy.
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This story was originally published August 25, 2026 at 8:07 PM.