Justin Steele returned from injury to allow two runs through five solid innings and Nico Hoerner delivered a two-run double as the Chicago Cubs won their season-high fifth straight, 3-2 over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.
Mike Tauchman’s tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the fifth held up for the Cubs.
Among MLB’s biggest surprises, Steele (7-2) pitched for the first time since May 31 against Tampa Bay, when he exited after three innings due to a left forearm strain.
On Saturday, the left-hander yielded only Adley Rutschman’s 10th homer, a two-run shot in the fifth, plus four other hits and a walk. He struck out four on 74 pitches.
Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr. and Adbert Alzolay (fourth save) followed with four strong innings of relief, allowing a combined two hits and striking out five as the surging Cubs improved to 7-1 since losing four in a row.
Baltimore, meanwhile, has totaled five runs through the first two games of this set, and the O’s stranded nine runners while going 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Kyle Gibson (8-4) allowed all three Cubs’ runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out seven in six innings.
Gibson retired the first seven Chicago batters and recorded his fifth strikeout on eighth-place hitter Yan Gomes in the third, but Baltimore catcher James McCann couldn’t corral the ball for what turned out to be a wild pitch on a third strike. Miles Mastrobuoni then reached on a fielder’s choice and moved to second on Tauchman’s walk. Both scored on Hoerner’s double, the first of his two hits, into the left-field gap for a 2-0 Cubs lead.
Meanwhile, it appeared Steele’s day would end without allowing a run as he got the first two outs of the fifth. Then Austin Hays (two hits) singled and Rutschman went deep into the left-center field bleachers on two strikes to tie the contest.
However, Chicago regained the lead in the bottom of the frame. Gomes doubled off Gibson, then went to third on Mastrobuoni’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Tauchman’s fly ball to left.
–Field Level Media
