Pete Crow-Armstrong hit two of Chicago’s five home runs and the Cubs held on to beat the host Baltimore Orioles 9-7 on Wednesday night.
Crow-Armstrong’s second long ball of the game and 21st of the season put the Cubs ahead for good, 4-3 in the fifth inning, before the teams combined for nine runs across the last three innings.
Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly hit back-to-back solo blasts in the fifth, then two batters later, Crow-Armstrong went deep. Crow-Armstrong earlier hit a solo shot in the third inning, and Seiya Suzuki added a three-run homer in the seventh.
The Cubs, who will go for a sweep of the three-game series on Thursday, produced their offense with eight hits and four walks. They won for the eighth time in the past 10 games.
Tyler O’Neill hit two home runs across the final three innings for the Orioles, and Pete Alonso and Coby Mayo also homered. Jackson Holliday rapped four of Baltimore’s 14 hits, but he never scored a run in what became the team’s third consecutive loss.
Right-hander Colin Rea (7-5) won his second start in a row, allowing three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two. Jacob Webb was called upon to pitch the ninth, and the right-hander notched his fourth save by retiring the side in order.
Baltimore right-hander Dean Kremer (1-2) gave up four runs on six hits in five innings in his second start after coming off the injury list. He fanned four and walked one.
Following Crow-Armstrong’s third-inning home run, the Orioles built a 3-1 lead on Alonso’s two-run homer in the fourth.
Chicago’s three-homer fifth inning was followed by a five-run seventh for a 9-3 advantage.
O’Neill entered the game in the seventh as a pinch hitter and delivered his first homer of the game. The Orioles tacked on another run on Taylor Ward’s run-scoring single but stranded two runners on base while trailing 9-5.
Mayo slugged a pinch-hit homer in the eighth before O’Neill made it back-to-back blasts for the Orioles.
–Field Level Media
