​BALTIMORE — Pete Alonso, kneeling with his jersey smeared in dirt, unleashed a thunderous roar. The Orioles’ 245-pound first baseman had just lumbered home as third base coach Buck Britton emphatically sent him on a Jeremiah Jackson pinch-hit double into the gap—the kind of gamble Britton told The Baltimore Sun that makes his heart race. The send paid off. Alonso barely beat Miguel Amaya’s tag, handing Baltimore a one-run lead in the eighth after Jackson’s timely double. Jackson’s first hit of the month, coming in his fourth at-bat, proved pivotal Thursday as the Orioles defeated the Cubs 3-2, snapping a three-game skid and preventing a season-worst 10 games below .500 with three games remaining before the All-Star break.
The rally followed Chicago’s eighth-inning takeover, a frame that began with Tyler O’Neill nearly making a diving grab on a fly ball off Pete Crow-Armstrong’s bat. The ball caromed off O’Neill’s glove, letting Crow-Armstrong—one of MLB’s speediest players—slide into second on a leadoff double off reliever Tyler Wells. Crow-Armstrong would score two batters later on a Seiya Suzuki double, giving the Cubs a lead that inning. Suzuki, who homered on Wednesday, drove in both Cubs’ runs, the first coming in the sixth on a solo homer off Orioles starter Trevor Rogers. That blast was all Rogers allowed in a solid start that underscored a two-season arc for the left-hander.
After a standout 2025 season in which he went 9-3 with a 1.81 ERA, Rogers endured a rough start this year. His ERA sat at 6.17 through five April appearances, then ballooned to 10.31 over four May outings, during which Baltimore went 2-7 in his starts. He had been billed as Baltimore’s ace in 2026. Yet at 28, he could be turning a corner. Rogers has posted a 0.74 ERA over his last four starts and has stifled three of the league’s top-five scoring offenses in the past month, holding the Dodgers, Nationals and Cubs to a combined two runs across 19 1/3 innings. A victory on Thursday would have marked four straight wins for him—the first time that feat had happened in his seven-year MLB career.
That outcome, however, eluded him, despite several sparkling defensive plays by Baltimore behind Rogers. With two outs in the fourth, Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner lined a double down the left-field line. Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson fired a strike to catcher Samuel Basallo, nailing first baseman Michael Busch at the plate and preserving a one-run lead. In the fifth, center fielder Leody Taveras dove to deny a hit by Chicago catcher Miguel Amaya that might have scored Dansby Swanson from second. Crow-Armstrong, who had homered twice the day before, struck out swinging, his frustration boiling over as he shouted an expletive. Rogers turned in a performance that, with the help of Baltimore’s defense, kept them in a position to win.