Cubs win fifth straight behind return of Justin Steele |
CHICAGO - Whatever David Ross said to this team on their plane ride back from San Francisco has worked as the Chicago Cubs (33-37) are playing their best baseball of the season right now. Already with a winning homestand under their belt, the Cubs were looking to make it five straight at Wrigley Field and a second straight win against the Baltimore Orioles (43-27).
To no one's surprise, Justin Steele returned from his brief stint on the IL to make the start and further improving the Cubs rotation. With the expectation that Miles Mastrobuoni would be the one getting sent to Iowa, Patrick Wisdom saw his spot on the roster taken away by Steele as Wisdom hit the IL with a sprained wrist. Expected to be on a pitch count for at least the first couple of starts, Steele was efficient enough to get through five innings, allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts. He left with the game tied but would pick up his seventh win of the season to improve to 7-2 as a Mike Tauchman sacrifice fly proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 win for the Cubs. Opposing Steele was right-hander Kyle Gibson, who's having a resurgent season with the Orioles this year. Like Steele, Gibson was very efficient throughout his start and gave the Orioles six good innings. He allowed three runs, typically enough to pick up a win, while also striking out seven. With both pitchers tossing a perfect first inning, Steele ran into trouble in the second, as this was the only time he had to work out of a jam. Gunnar Henderson led off the second with a walk before a two-out James McCann single put two runners on for Baltimore. Nothing came from that rally as Steele pitched out of that jam and tossed another easy inning in the third as the Orioles struggled against the Cubs pitching. Once the bottom of the third rolled around, you had the Cubs offense starting to get some excellent swings off of Gibson, which has been the theme for this offense during their winning streak. With one down in the inning, Yan Gomes caught a break as he struck out for the second out but managed to reach first on a wild pitch to steal an out. Two batters later saw Mike Tauchman work a walk which put a pair of runners on for Nico Hoerner. Known as one of the better clutch hitters on the team this season, Hoerner would deliver, as his RBI double broke the shutout bid and had the Cubs in front 2-0. NICOOOOOO! pic.twitter.com/ODI8D4Rc7d With Steele continuing to battle against an excellent Baltimore offense and working out of another jam in the fourth, you had to like the Cub's chances to make it five straight as the Orioles continued to search for answers. Those answers came in the top of the fifth when Austin Hays picked up a two-out single to extend the inning. A few pitches later saw the Orioles breakthrough for the first and only time in the game as Adley Rutschman took Steele deep for a two-run shot to tie things up 2-2. Steele managed to get out of that inning without allowing any more damage, but his day was finished as he hit his pitch count maximum. Knowing that this would come down to what bullpen could do a better job, Gomes began the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff double before advancing to third on the Mastrobuoni bunt. That set the stage for one of the better hitters on the team as of late, with Tauchman driving home Gomes with a sacrifice fly to put the Cubs back in front 3-2. That was the final run of the game for Chicago, as it was going to be up to the Cub's bullpen to finish the job. First out of the pen for Ross was the surging Julian Merryweather, who has been lights out for the last month. Despite allowing a pair of baserunners, including a single from Ryan O'Hearn, Merryweather buckled down when he had to and escaped the sixth without allowing a run and keeping the Cubs in front. Merryweather was replaced by Mark Leiter Jr, but it was the Orioles who were looking to put up a crooked number against him. Leiter not only allowed a one-out single to Hays but would walk Rutschman shortly after as the Orioles had a golden opportunity to tie things up or take the lead. Leiter Jr was having none of that as he not only retired the final two hitters to close out the seventh but also tossed a scoreless eighth as the Cubs continued to maintain their narrow 3-2 lead. Hoping for some more late-game insurance like they have done the past few games, Hoerner picked up a clutch one-out double to begin the eighth, only for the offense to be turned away again. It may have taken Ross nearly three months to find the closer of this team, but Adbert Alzolay appears to be the answer for the Cubs in the ninth. With three saves under his belt, Alzolay picked up a pair of strikeouts in the ninth to close things down as the Cubs picked up another 3-2 win. Alzolay now has four saves on the season with a sparkling 1.97 ERA. That 5-game win streak feeling!@adbert29 pic.twitter.com/m9QdIip0zE
The Cubs had four hits in the ballgame, with Hoerner leading the way with two, while Dansby Swanson and Gomes added the other two. The Cubs will look to make it a perfect 6-0 homestand on Sunday when they send Jameson Taillon to the mound against Dean Kremer at 12:00 PM CDT.
