Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (7/8/26): Cubs 9, Orioles 7 – Handful of Homers Overcome O’s
The Cubs and Orioles battled in a high-scoring affair Wednesday night that featured a total of nine combined home runs. The road squad had five of those dingers and survived a late comeback effort to win the game and the series.
Chicago took the lead in the top of the 3rd inning when Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a solo shot off of starter Dean Kremer. Baltimore brought home the tying run against Colin Rea in the bottom of the frame on a double play by Gunnar Henderson.
The O’s jumped in front on a two-run blast by Pete Alonso in the bottom of the 4th, but the North Siders answered back in a big way with three solo homers against Kremer in the 5th. Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly went back-to-back to open the frame, and PCA hit his second homer to give his team a 4-3 advantage.
The Cubs exploded for five runs against lefty Grant Wolfram in the top of the 7th to expand their edge to 9-3. Alex Bregman began the scoring with a sacrifice fly, and the second came in on a bases-loaded wild pitch. Seiya Suzuki had the big blow when he connected on a three-run jack.
Baltimore did not go down quietly, scoring twice in the bottom of the frame on a pinch-hit homer by Tyler O’Neill and an RBI single from Taylor Ward. Then Coby Mayo and O’Neill went back-to-back off of Caleb Thielbar in the 8th to cut the deficit to 9-7.
Jacob Webb avoided any drama in the bottom of the 9th, going 1-2-3 to earn the save and close out Chicago’s 9-7 victory. (Box score)
Key Moment
Suzuki’s home run appeared to be gravy at the time, but ended up being the difference in the score.
Why the Cubs Won
The power display from the lineup was enough to overcome some shaky pitching and earn the win.
Stats That Matter
- Nice effort by Rea, who has been pretty solid recently: 5.1 IP, 3 R, 7 H, 2 K, and 2 BB.
- Crow-Armstrong has 20 homers and 20 stolen bases before the All-Star break for the second consecutive season.
- Kelly also had a walk and scored twice.
Bottom Line
The Cubs are right back to winning series after the little hiccup against St. Louis last weekend. The entire offense has seen a power surge in the last month, which was badly needed after they went completely flat at the end of May. PCA shows no signs of slowing down from his torrid pace.
On Deck
Potential rain has moved the series finale on Thursday from a night game to a 12:35pm CT start. Javier Assad goes up against Trevor Rogers in a game available on Marquee with a radio feed on The Score.
