3 takeaways from Chicago Cubs’ series win, including Seiya Suzuki snapping his slump and starters delivering

BALTIMORE — Two runs by the offense often won’t cut it.

The Chicago Cubs, looking to sweep the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday at Camden Yards, needed to rally in the ninth inning after the bullpen surrendered their one-run lead in the eighth. Nico Hoerner appeared to set them up to tie it when he reached on an error to open the inning. On reliever Andrew Kittredge’s third pitch of the ensuing at-bat, Hoerner took off and was initially safe on his steal attempt.

However, Hoerner came off the bag as he slid through it, which was upheld on replay review. It potentially proved costly in the Cubs’ 3-2 loss.

Ian Happ followed with a single that second baseman Jackson Holliday prevented from getting to the outfield that would have advanced Hoerner to third. Dansby Swanson then hit into a forceout at second, beating the throw to first on the would-be double-play ball that Hoerner could have scored on to tie the game.

Instead, pinch hitter Michael Conforto lined out to left to end it.

Manager Craig Counsell wasn’t happy second-base umpire Ramon De Jesus did not rule the Orioles’ Henderson obstructed second base with his foot on Hoerner’s steal attempt.

“There’s a clear blocking the bag there, it’s very clear,” Counsell said. “So the reason why Nico came off the bag is because the player is blocking the bag and he has to adjust his slide. Then they go to review. They don’t even look at the blocking of the bag when that’s what caused the player to come off. It’s kind of illogical that you don’t look at blocking the bag when it’s what caused the player to come off the bag. So they can’t look at it. He did come off the bag and he was tagged, but he came off the bag because Henderson had his foot right in the sliding lane, which is illegal.

“And so New York’s staring at it, but because Ramon didn’t call it on the field, they don’t call it. That makes no sense.”

As the Cubs prepare to close out the first half with three games in Cincinnati, here are three takeaways from their series victory at Camden Yards.

1. Seiya Suzuki is getting hot.

Riding an 0-for-15 stretch with six strikeouts into Wednesday, Suzuki broke out in a big way in the last two games against the Orioles.

He followed his three-run home run in their 9-7 victory with a three-hit day that accounted for both of the Cubs’ runs in the loss. Suzuki slugged a tying home run in the sixth, connecting on Trevor Rogers’ changeup that he smoked for a 432-foot blast to left field. He gave the Cubs a brief lead during his next at-bat in the eighth when his double drove in Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Suzuki homered in consecutive games for the third time this season.

“The last series in Chicago at home, I couldn’t hit, and I had a lot of frustration built up,” Suzuki said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “So really just taking that frustration out on the ball. I haven’t really changed anything. Just staying aggressive, get my pitch and try to do damage on it.”

Justin Dean took over in right field in the bottom of the eighth after Suzuki experienced cramping in his calf following his double in the top half of the inning. Suzuki and the Cubs are not concerned about any lingering issues. He attributed the issue to sweating more than usual.

“Feeling good now, I’m going to go eat about 100 bananas,” Suzuki said with a grin.

2. Starters gave the offense a chance.

The Cubs needed left-hander David Peterson to put his last outing behind him and recapture the things that help make him successful, namely keeping the ball on the ground.

After getting tagged for 10 runs in 3⅔ innings Friday against the New York Mets, Peterson bounced back to limit the Orioles to one run on two hits in five innings. He worked around four walks and struck out two. Six of his 15 outs came on ground balls. Peterson was glad he was able to prevent damage, especially with so many free passes, and believes the key moving forward is utilizing his legs and being more in sync with his delivery.

“I thought it was certainly obviously better than his last start,” Counsell said. “There’s still some inconsistencies there, but I thought he also showed the really good version of himself too. So, it’s not going to happen overnight. But we took some steps today, hopefully, and we’ve got to work on getting more consistent.”

Peterson, Matthew Boyd and Colin Rea gave the Cubs what they needed in the series. The trio combined to allow four runs in 16 1/3 innings (2.20 ERA), which helped take some pressure off the bullpen. The Cubs are expecting right-hander Jameson Taillon to come off the injured list coming out of the break as long as his rehab start Saturday with Triple-A Iowa goes well, giving them more options for the pitching staff.

3. Bullpen struggled to hold up.

The injuries the Cubs have endured to their bullpen eventually would catch up to them, and it’s starting to be felt over the last couple of weeks.

The group held it together well enough in the first two games of the series to secure wins but fell apart in Thursday’s finale. In the eighth inning, right-hander Tyler Ferguson hit two of the three batters he faced on back-to-back pitches to Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso and was replaced by lefty Ryan Rolison, who has largely been reliable since called up earlier this season. But Rolison surrendered a go-ahead two-run double to pinch hitter Jeremiah Jackson and walked a batter before eventually getting out of the inning.

Since the beginning of June, the bullpen posted a 5.12 ERA entering Thursday with a combined -1.3 fWAR, tied with the Kansas City Royals for worst in the majors. The Cubs should be getting veteran reliever Phil Maton back after the All-Star break while closer Daniel Palencia trends toward returning in the next few weeks.

The injuries have forced more mixing and matching for Counsell in high-leverage spots.

“I think every reliever prefers to know exactly when they’re going to pitch,” Counsell said. “We haven’t been able to necessarily do that as much lately, so we’ve more gone to you’re probably going to face this group of hitters, but you don’t know what inning. … It’s just what our group is. We kind of have a platoon-heavy group.”