Justin Steele turned in his second consecutive dominating pitching performance and Seiya Suzuki drove in runs with three extra-base hits as the Chicago Cubs completed a three-game sweep of the host Baltimore Orioles, winning 8-0 on Thursday night.
Steele (2-3), coming off his first career complete game last week, threw seven shutout innings as the Cubs won for the sixth time in their past seven games. He struck out four without a walk and allowed just three hits.
Dansby Swanson homered and drove in a run with a single. Chicago racked up a total of 38 hits in the series while outscoring Baltimore 21-2.
The Orioles, who were shutout victims for the second night in a row, will carry a three-game losing streak into an American League East showdown against the New York Yankees this weekend.
Drew Smyly and Jorge Lopez each worked an inning in relief to complete the combined five-hitter. The Cubs have notched seven shutouts this year, with three of them coming across the past four games.
Baltimore’s hits off Steele were doubles by Ryan Mountcastle, Jorge Mateo and Anthony Santander. The Orioles were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position for a two-game mark of 0-for-16 in that category, stranding two runners in the ninth following Santander’s walk and Jordan Westburg’s double.
Orioles starter Albert Suarez (5-3) took the loss, giving up four runs on six hits in five innings. He walked two and fanned four. Reliever Cole Irvin was tagged for four runs and seven hits across the final four innings.
Suzuki opened the scoring with a third-inning RBI double. After Michael Busch’s two-run RBI double in the fifth, Suzuki tacked on a run-scoring double.
Swanson’s ninth home run of the season was a solo shot in the sixth. Suzuki smacked a run-producing triple in the seventh, and Ian Happ and Swanson later drove in runs in the inning.
Busch scored three runs. He joined Nico Hoerner, Miles Mastrobuoni and Swanson with two hits each.
–Field Level Media
