Baltimore didn't need to be pretty this time. A night after routing St. Louis 13-1, the Orioles found themselves in a dogfight and had to grind out an 8-7 win on Wednesday, but the result read the same in the standings: another loss for a Cardinals team that can't find the brakes, and another building block for an Orioles club that looks like it means business early in the 2026 season.
This one had none of the lopsided rhythm of the series opener. St. Louis pushed back from the jump, matching Baltimore blow for blow behind another strong night from Nathan Church, who paced the Cardinals with 29.0 fantasy points out of center field. Bryan Torres added 26.5 and Nolan Gorman chipped in 26.0 from third base, giving St. Louis three legitimate offensive threats and, for stretches, the look of a team ready to snap its skid. Iván Herrera provided pop from the DH spot with 21.0 fantasy points, and even with the loss, this was clearly a more competitive Cardinals effort than the blowout the previous evening.
It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's lineup, and specifically Christian Encarnacion-Strand, had the last word. The third baseman was the best player on the field, putting up 36.0 fantasy points to claim game MVP honors and doing the kind of damage that swings a one-run game. Leody Taveras was right behind him with 33.5, and Pete Alonso continued to look every bit the middle-of-the-order force Baltimore needs him to be, posting 30.0 fantasy points at first base. That trio combined to outproduce almost anything St. Louis could throw at them, and in a game decided by a single run, that top-of-the-lineup thump was the difference.
Dylan Beavers added 23.0 more for the Orioles out of right field, giving Baltimore four hitters north of 20 fantasy points in a game their pitching staff clearly needed the help to survive. Samuel Basallo chipped in 15.5 behind the plate. It wasn't a shutdown pitching performance from either side, this was an offensive slugfest that felt more like a track meet than a chess match, but Baltimore's firepower proved just barely deep enough to hold on when St. Louis made things uncomfortable late.
For the Cardinals, the concerning part isn't the one-run margin, it's the pattern. This loss extends a stretch that now includes defeats in five straight games, spanning both the Baltimore series and a rough set against Philadelphia that saw them get outscored badly in a couple of those contests. Individual performances like Church's, Torres's and Gorman's suggest the bats haven't gone completely cold. Jordan Walker adding 17.5 and Alec Burleson chipping in 13.5 shows there's more than a couple of names capable of contributing. But scoring seven runs and still losing is the kind of outcome that will frustrate a clubhouse trying to find its footing this early in the year. JJ Wetherholt closed the board for St. Louis with 11.5, and reliever Luis Gastelum turned in a respectable 14.5 out of the bullpen, but none of it was enough to flip the result.
Baltimore, meanwhile, walks away from this set feeling like the more complete team right now. Two wins over St. Louis to open the year points to a club capable of grinding out different kinds of victories, the blowout and the nail-biter alike. Encarnacion-Strand's MVP night is the headline, but the encouraging sign for Baltimore is how many different players are producing. Taveras, Alonso, Beavers and Basallo all found ways to contribute, and that kind of lineup depth tends to matter over the long haul of a season.
For St. Louis, the message going forward is simpler and less comfortable: individual production isn't translating into results, and five straight losses to open the year is not the start anyone in that clubhouse wanted. The bats will need to find a way to complement whatever's happening on the mound, and soon, before this early skid becomes a defining storyline.
For fans tracking performances like these, nights like Encarnacion-Strand's 36-point outburst are exactly the kind of difference-makers that can swing a lineup on JockBroker.
