If You Blinked You Might Have Missed It
In a game that took one hour and forty-nine minutes to complete, the Baltimore Orioles dropped the first game following the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline by a score of 1-0 to the Chicage Cubs (64-45) at Wrigley Field. The rain delay endured by the Delmarva Shorebirds Thursday night lasted almost an hour longer (2:46) than Friday’s game took to complete.
The entirety of the scoring occurred in the second inning. Chicago placed runners at second and third on a Carson Kelly single and a Pete Crow-Armstrong double. Ian Happ‘s one-out sacrifice fly scored Kelly. Happ’s fly ball went to short right field and a more accurate throw by Tyler O’Neill may have gotten Kelly out at home, instead it took catcher Adley Rutschman up the third base line.
Baltimore threatened in the first inning when a pair of walks put runners on first and second with one out; the threat ended with consecutive flyouts. In the fifth a lead-off walk was erased on a double play and Jeremiah Jackson ended the frame with a caught stealing of second base after he reached on a single, his first MLB hit.
Rutschman’s two-out double in the ninth gave the Orioles a glimmer of hope but O’Neill’s flyout to the ivy in left landed in Happ’s glove to end the game.
Jackson Holliday‘s third inning single accounted for Baltimore’s first of three hits in the game.
Solid Pitching
Chicago’s Cade Horton (5-3) limited the Orioles to just 2 hits over 5.0 innings with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. The Cubs bullpen did the rest with four relievers finishing Horton’s start. Former Oriole Andrew Kittredge struckout 2 in the 7th inning and Daniel Palencia gave up Rutschman’s ninth-inning double.
A Complete Start
Trevor Rogers (4-2) threw a complete game for the Orioles. He matched the Cubs pitchers with an 8.0 inning effort in which he allowed 4 hits (2 doubles) and struck out 8 on 88 pitches (68 K’s); he was simply that good today. He retired 10 straight batters after allowing the lone run in the second inning.
Rutschman had this to say about Rogers’ performance, “I thought he threw all of his pitches today in different counts, ahead and behind, he gave batters a lot of different looks. I thought he did a great job today. I was really impressed.”
New Faces In The Lineup
Even with all the roster shuffling due to Thursday’s Trade Deadline, Baltimore’s line-up only saw two new faces, the aforementioned Jackson and Jordyn Adams who pinch-ran for Rutschman in the ninth inning.
2025 Record: 50-60
Next Game: Sat. 8/2 @ 2:20 pm vs. Cubs in Chicago