Jeremiah Jackson hit a pinch-hit, two-run double in the eighth inning to give the Orioles the lead and Baltimore held on to defeat the visiting Chicago Cubs 3-2, avoiding a three-game series sweep despite collecting only three hits Thursday afternoon.
Tyler O’Neill hit his third homer in a two-game stretch for Baltimore’s first run and Trevor Rogers provided a quality start.
From Wednesday night when he entered the game as a seventh-inning pinch hitter, O’Neill homered in three consecutive at-bats covering a five-inning span when he went deep in the second inning Thursday. He doubled his season home run total in less than 18 hours, pushing the number to six.
Seiya Suzuki homered for the second game in a row and hit a go-ahead double in the eighth inning for the Cubs. It wasn’t enough to prevent their third loss in 11 games. Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong rapped doubles for Chicago, which had nine total hits.
Jackson’s heroics on a sharp liner to center didn’t erase the tension for the Orioles in the ninth.
Suzuki’s three hits made him the only player in the game with more than one hit until teammate Ian Happ reached on a one-out infield single in the ninth.
Earlier in the inning, Hoerner reached on shortstop Gunnar Henderson’s error, but he was thrown out trying to steal second.
Dansby Swanson, aboard on a fielder’s choice, was in scoring position after a successful steal before the game ended on pinch hitter Michael Conforto’s line out to left field.
Tyler Wells (2-1), who was charged with Chicago’s eighth-inning run in his lone inning of relief, was the winning pitcher. Andrew Kittredge pitched the ninth for his second save.
Rogers gave up one run and five hits, striking out four and walking two.
Tyler Ferguson (0-1) took the loss for the Cubs recording only one out in the eighth inning. Chicago starter David Peterson held Baltimore to one run on two hits for five innings, but he issued four walks.
Despite the outcome, the Orioles have dropped four consecutive home series.
Because of weather-related concerns, the game time was moved up five hours to an afternoon start.
–Field Level Media
