BALTIMORE — On his 29th birthday Thursday, left-hander Justin Steele gifted the Cubs one of his most efficient outings of the season to help them complete a series sweep of the Orioles.
Steele pitched seven scoreless innings in the Cubs’ 8-0 victory, a nice follow-up to a complete game last week against the Angels.
He limited the Orioles to three hits, two of which his corner outfielders narrowly missed on diving attempts. And he only needed 70 pitches to get through
the start.
‘‘It’s huge,’’ Steele said of the sweep. ‘‘It’s kind of things you need to be doing, especially in the spot we’re in. But we’re feeling good. The boys are rolling right now. It’s fun right now.’’
The Orioles hadn’t been swept in a regular-season series at Camden Yards since
Aug. 27-29, 2021, against the Rays. It was the Cubs’ first time sweeping a series of three or more games since late April in Houston.
The Orioles entered the series with the best record in the American League. In three games, the Cubs outscored them 21-2.
‘‘We’ve played in a way that limits our room for error, so we need series like this to get back into this thing,’’ manager Craig Counsell said. ‘‘And this week was a good start.’’
With all three of the Cubs’ starters pitching six or more innings and lopsided victories in two of the three games, no reliever pitched twice. The relievers combined for eight scoreless innings.
Steele said he told Counsell he was good to stay in the game with such a low pitch count through seven innings, but he was OK with the manager’s decision.
‘‘Really just looking at what he did his last outing — going out there nine innings — and trying to get him a break here, as well,’’ Counsell said of his reasoning. ‘‘And then with seven innings, we felt like we had put the bullpen in a really good spot, so I thought that was enough.’’
Steele has posted a 1.48 ERA in his last nine appearances.
The Cubs outhit the Orioles 13-5, notching double-digit hits for the third consecutive game. Seiya Suzuki led the way with a 3-for-5 day that featured two doubles and a triple. His three RBI included driving in the first run of the game.
‘‘I was being really aggressive in regards to today’s at-bats, and when we needed that run, I was able to do my job,’’ Suzuki said through an interpreter.
‘‘Overall, I [was] very, very satisfied with how I did today.’’
Pitchers Ben Brown (strained neck) and Jordan Wicks (strained right oblique) still are experiencing symptoms of their injuries, stalling their rehab progressions at playing catch, Counsell said.
Counsell had hoped both would be among the pitchers the Cubs are expecting back from the injured list in the weeks after the All-Star break. And while Brown still might return from the IL in July, Wicks likely won’t.
