​These are the games that test your patience and make you want to pull your hair out. The Cubs built a late lead that should have held, but this bullpen failed to seal the deal. Add in a handful of questionable baserunning decisions and replay review calls, and you’ve got a frustrating 3-2 Cubs defeat to the Orioles, snapping their short three-game winning streak.
Tyler O’Neill, the Cubs’ nemesis, struck again. After launching two homers on Wednesday, he went deep in the second inning off David Peterson to put Baltimore up 1-0. It marked homers in three consecutive at-bats and gave O’Neill 14 home runs in 56 career games against the Cubs—by far his most against any team. Let’s hope Baltimore doesn’t decide to trade him to a competitor the Cubs will face later this season.
The score stayed 1-0 Baltimore through five innings, largely aided by a curious baserunning decision in the top of the fourth. Michael Busch hit a two-out single, followed by Nico Hoerner’s double. Then Quintin Berry sent Busch, and the play went to review. It was a razor-thin call: two perfect throws from Taylor Ward and Gunnar Henderson, and the ruling stood against the Cubs. Still, if Busch had held at third, the Cubs would have had two men in scoring position with Ian Happ coming up. In hindsight, taking that risk might have been preferable to the outcome.
Apart from the O’Neill homer, Peterson pitched well, lasting five innings and allowing just the one run and only two hits. He did walk four, but he battled out of trouble repeatedly. It marks the second solid outing and one uneven one for Peterson this season as a Cub, and with the All-Star break on the horizon, he should remain a valuable part of the rotation. Here’s more on Peterson’s outing.
For context, Peterson’s start was the 17th by a Cub this season at exactly five innings. He tied for the fewest hits allowed in that span with Colin Rea at Tampa Bay on April 8 and Shota Imanaga at Colorado on June 10. Imanaga yielded no runs; Peterson and Rea each gave up one, as did Imanaga on April 5 in Cleveland (3 hits), and Ben Brown on June 13 in San Francisco (7 hits). The Cubs were 8-8 in their previous 16 five-inning starts.
Seiya Suzuki tied the game in the sixth with a monstrous home run. That ball was crushed. The Cubs’ bullpen held the Orioles scoreless for a couple of innings, with Gavin Hollowell and Caleb Thielbar combining for two scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh, though Hollowell did issue a pair of walks.
The Cubs finally nudged ahead in the eighth. Pete Crow-Armstrong started the frame with a double, extending his hitting streak to nine games. He moved to third on a fly ball by Alex Bregman and scored on a Suzuki double. Suzuki’s knock put runners at second and third with one out, but Carson Kelly struck out and Michael Busch grounded out, ending the threat.
In the end, the late lead evaporated, the bullpen faltered, and the Cubs’ bid for a fourth straight win fell short. Still, the club showed sparks of resilience: a game-tying shot by Suzuki, effective innings from Hollowell and Thielbar, and continued progress from younger players like Crow-Armstrong. It’s a tough break, but with the break coming, there are positives to carry into the next set of games.