Justin Steele returns, Cubs beat Orioles for fifth straight win
Justin Steele threw five strong innings in his return from the injured list.
Getty
Saturday was another pretty good day for the Cubs.
The most important part was Justin Steele throwing five strong innings in their 3-2 win over the Orioles in front of 40,605 at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have won five straight and seven of eight, and pulled to within four games of the .500 mark.
Getting Steele back made the day a positive regardless of the result.
“He’s a huge part of our success, that’s no secret,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “He looked like himself. That’s all you can ask for.”
Working for the first time since May 31, Steele struck out four and allowed five hits over 74 pitches. The biggest blemish came with two outs in the top of the fifth when Adley Rutschman’s homer off a hanging breaking ball tied the game at 2.
That home run aside, Saturday was encouraging for Steele and the Cubs.
“It was a nice little break for him, just making sure he’s 100%,” manager David Ross said. “We felt that way the more we got into the [injured list] stint, just him being able to throw extended bullpens, be able to continue to trust in what he’s doing and build on that. It was just really nice to see him come out and be really clean.”
Before suffering the left forearm strain during a shortened start against the Rays that landed him on the IL, Steele was establishing himself as one of the National League’s best starters and an anchor of the Cubs’ rotation for 2023 and the future.
In his first start since that night against Tampa Bay, Steele still looked the part after being pretty eager to get back into the rotation.
“I was just kind of starting to drive myself nuts, not being able to get out there and help the team,” Steele said. “There were many days I was just finding myself pacing around, especially during the game [and] not knowing what to do. It just felt really good to get back out there and play ball with the team.”
Steele’s teammates are doing a pretty good job of that.
Hoerner had a two-run double in the third to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead, bringing in Miles Mastrobuoni and Mike Tauchman. He also helped keep the Cubs in front in the seventh, when Hoerner ranged to his left to snag Gunnar Henderson’s two-out grounder and get him at first to end a threat and strand runners at first and second.
The Cubs also benefited from the legs of catcher Yan Gomes. He began the third-inning rally by streaking to first after swinging through a wild pitch, and scored what turned out to be the game-winning run in the fifth on Tauchman’s sacrifice fly to left.
The bullpen, which had been a sore spot over the early part of the season, continued its improvement, throwing four scoreless innings. Julian Merryweather threw a shutout sixth, Mark Leiter Jr. worked the seventh and the eighth and Adbert Alzolay finished the game.
“Guys are throwing really well down there [in the bullpen],” Ross said. “Pitching was the story today.”
Steele’s return made it a happy story for the Cubs. Showing what he did Saturday will only continue the positive feelings around the team, which is positioning itself to contend in a division that is there for the taking and trying to make up for an underwhelming beginning to 2023.
“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” Steele said. “We feel like if we go out there and play our brand of baseball each and every day or night out, we’re going to be in a really good spot.”