Orioles avoid debacle with 8-7 win over Cardinals behind emerging slugger's clutch hit

Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun on Aug 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — A loss would’ve been perhaps the Orioles’ worst of the season. Instead, the win counts all the same.

After winning by 12 runs Tuesday, the Orioles sprinted out to a seven-run lead in the second inning Wednesday in what looked like another cruise-control victory. But Orioles starter Kyle Bradish lost his command and was hit hard in the fifth inning, allowing six runs to squander the entire advantage. Meanwhile, Baltimore’s bats fell asleep after the second, going six straight frames without a run.

Then a player who this summer has gone from a Triple-A depth piece to an unlikely hero to simply one of the Orioles’ best hitters came through clutch yet again. Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s RBI double in the top of the ninth broke the tie, propelling Baltimore to an 8-7 win and preventing a disastrous defeat.

The Cardinals nearly rallied to tie or win the game in the bottom of the ninth, but veteran reliever Andrew Kittredge walked the tightrope for the save — thanks in large part to second baseman Jackson Holliday’s defense. With one out and the tying run on second, Holliday dove to stop a grounder to his left and got the out at first base. The 22-year-old has largely struggled defensively, but that stop was perhaps the biggest play of his young MLB career.

Baltimore improves to 65-68 with the win to keep up with the red-hot Guardians, who won their seventh straight game Wednesday to keep their hold on the third and final wild-card spot in the American League. The Orioles are 2 1/2 games back of Cleveland.

In Tuesday’s 13-1 win, the Orioles’ eight-run fifth inning was sparked by Jackson Holliday and Pete Alonso atop the lineup. To open Wednesday’s game, both Holliday and Alonso grounded out, but their teammates backed them up with one of the best two-out rallies of Baltimore’s season.

Gunnar Henderson started it with a single, advanced to second on Samuel Basallo’s walk and scored on a single from Encarnacion-Strand, who is hitting .344 with an .843 OPS with runners in scoring position since he was called up in July. Dylan Beavers then doubled the Orioles’ lead with an RBI single to extend his hot August. The rookie has been the Orioles’ second-best hitter (behind Alonso) over the past two weeks with a 1.138 OPS after his first-inning knock.

Leody Taveras then delivered the big blow with a three-run homer to right field that put Baltimore up 5-0. An inning later, Alonso got in on the fun with an opposite-field two-run blast that barely left Busch Stadium, the MLB ballpark in which the slugger has his best numbers. The long ball was Alonso’s 32nd this season and gave him 91 RBIs on the season, putting him on pace for 38 homers and 110 RBIs. By Baseball-Reference WAR, Alonso is on pace to have his best season since his 53-homer rookie season with the Mets in 2019.

The Cardinals got on the board in the bottom half of the second when Nolan Gorman hit a solo homer off Kyle Bradish, but it was the fifth inning in which St. Louis finally figured out the Orioles’ top starter. Bradish walked back-to-back batters to load the bases with one out, but he had plenty of wiggle room with a six-run lead. About 15 minutes later, it was gone.

Alec Burleson drove in two with a ground-ball single up the middle, and Jordan Walker hit a Baltimore chop to cut the Cardinals’ deficit to three. Nathan Church then drove in two more with a fly ball double down the left field line that Dylan Beavers dropped while sliding to prevent crashing into the wall that is only a few feet into foul territory.

Orioles manager Craig Albernaz pulled Bradish, and Alex Hoppe allowed a stolen base and a José Fermín groundout to tie the game. Bradish’s ERA jumped to 4.03 and his WHIP to 1.41 after he gave up seven runs on nine hits across 4 1/3 frames for one of his worst starts of the season.

Both bullpens then traded zeroes in the middle and late innings until Encarnacion-Strand drove in Luis Vázquez, who was pinch running for Samuel Basallo after the young slugger’s leadoff single.

The Orioles will go for the series sweep Thursday afternoon with Trevor Rogers on the mound.