In an attempt to avoid Thursday’s forecasted rain, the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago Cubs (52-41) was moved ahead 5 hours to 1:35 pm. The skies above Camden Yards did darken during the later portion of the game and rain did fall around the ninth inning, but in the end, a potentially long rain delay was avoided. In the end, the Orioles were able to avoid a sweep at home as well as a four-game losing streak with their 3-2 win over the Cubs.
As a matter of fact, a crowd of 12,052 fans attended the game despite the rather late notice of the start time change on Wednesday night. Certainly the number of Cubs fans in Baltimore for the series helped today’s attendance.
The Orioles opened the scoring in the second inning with a lead-off homerun by Tyler O’Neill (1 for 3), his third in the past two games. This homerun travelled 102.5 mph off the bat and landed 398 ft. away in centerfield. That makes 1,200 ft. of homeruns in less than 24 hours.
The score remained 1-0 until Chicago’s Seiya Suzuki hit his 15th homerun of the season in the sixth inning off or Trevor Rogers; it was Suzuki’s second homerun in as many days.
Rogers gave the O’s another quality start, allowing 1 run on 5 hits with 2 walks and 5 strike outs over 6.0 innings. He managed to escape a two on, one out jam in the first inning as well as a scoring situation in the fourth. With Michael Busch on first due to his two-out single, Nico Hoerner doubled to left field. Busch was subsequently thrown out attempting to score on the double by a solid throw and relay from Taylor Ward to Gunnar Henderson to Samuel Basallo.
The Cubs took the lead in the eighth on a Suzuki RBI double to left field.
The O’s took back the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Back-to-back hit batters put Basallo and Pete Alonso on second and first, respectively, with one out. That’s when the managers traded jabs. Craig Albernaz put Dylan Beavers in as a pinch hitter for O’Neill. Cubs Manager Craig Counsell countered that move with southpaw reliever Ryan Rolison. Albernaz sent Jeremiah Jackson in to pinch hit for Beavers (who had been announced into the game) for a right on left matchup.
Jackson proceeded to hit a two-RBI double with the second run coming on a sprint from first base to home by Alonso, who just touched the plate ahead of the tag at home. The Cubs challenged the safe call at home to no avail.
Tyler Wells (2-1), pitching in the eighth, recorded the win and Andrew Kittredge closed out the ninth to earn his second save of the season.
With three games remaining before the All-Star break, will the curse of Quatro strike again?
2026 Record: 43-51
Next Game: Fri. 7/10 @ 7:05 pm vs. Kansas City Royals
