The game within today’s Orioles-Cubs matchup involved a race with black clouds and a bleak forecast. The city was under a severe thunderstorm watch. Moving up the start time to 1:35 p.m. didn’t seem like a solution unless the goal was to get in as many innings as possible and run for cover.

The Orioles led 1-0 after five innings. They used two stellar defensive plays to keep Chicago off the board. They had Trevor Rogers putting up zeros again.

That stopped in the top of the sixth, when Seiya Suzuki hit a 432-foot, game-tying home run with one out. The exit velocity was 110.9 mph, and the Orioles needed to make a fast recovery.

It took a while. They were held to two hits until Jeremiah Jackson came off the bench in the eighth inning and stroked a two-run double off Ryan Rolison. In desperate need of a win to avoid a sweep, the Orioles held on for a 3-2 victory before an announced crowd of 12,052 at Camden Yards.

The outcome again prevented the Orioles (43-51) from falling a season-worst 10 games below .500. They’re 9-19 all-time against the Cubs.

Andrew Kittredge notched his second save after Nico Hoerner led off the ninth by reaching on Gunnar Henderson’s fielding error. Hoerner tried to steal second base, came off the bag and was out. Happ beat out a ground ball to the right side, but the Cubs couldn’t push across the tying run.

“Any win against a good team, I feel like you can get momentum out of,” Kittredge said. “We have such a talented group in here. It’s kind of like we’re waiting for it to kind of come together. A win like this really feels like it’s a step in the right direction.

The storm finally arrived with two outs. The Orioles won that game, too.

“I noticed it started coming down a little bit more, and my fear as a pitcher is just the grip on a ball and whatnot when it gets wet,” Kittredge said. “But thankfully, it kind of held off right there in time.”

“Everyone was aware of the rain that was around us,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “It’s one of those things where you can’t control it until the tarp was pulled. Guys were engaged and locked in and obviously when it started pouring in the ninth, it was really interesting.”

Tyler Ferguson hit Henderson and Pete Alonso with one out in the eighth. Dylan Beavers was on deck to bat for Tyler O’Neill, but Jackson replaced him when the left-handed Rolison got the call. Jackson lined a fastball into right-center at 106.5 mph and the Orioles reclaimed the lead.

“That’s a move we were anticipating,” Albernaz said. “It’s something that we’ve been talking about for a while, and the right opportunity presented itself. Rolison is a really tough lefty and once they made the move, J.J. was ready to hit. And we liked the matchup just because how J.J. can handle the bat, and with his arsenal, it’s still a tough at-bat for a righty, but he throws a lot of strikes and J.J. was ready for the moment. So it’s a great job by J.J. and Beavs was on board with it, too. It was a great at-bat.”

Jackson is 15-for-50 with 27 RBIs with runners in scoring position.

“He’s clutch,” Kittredge said. “There’s guys that step up in those moments, and he hasn’t had a really long career, but in the time that he has been here, he seems to step up in big moments like that. … I think when you can kind of keep a low heart rate, that moment doesn’t seem as big as it might look from the outside. I think he does a good job of that.”

“He’s extremely self-confident and he knows his ability,” Albernaz said. “He’s always prepared, and he does a great job of getting his swing off. With runners in scoring position, sometimes it’s you have to simplify it. If it’s a good pitch to hit, put a good swing on it, and J.J. did a great job of staying in right-center field.”

Said Jackson: “There’s been some good times, some bad times in the big important spots. But, I mean, anytime you can get it done, you definitely celebrate that win. All in all, it’s all about winning, and the hit helped us win. As far as I’m concerned, I did my job.

“I don’t think anything changes. I mean, I think it’s the same as a ninth inning at-bat with a game on the line and a first-inning at-bat. I think you just try to stay as calm as possible and stick to your approach, and just try to get a good pitch.”

Alonso scored from first base. He never slowed down and third base coach Buck Britton never thought about holding him.

“It’s not the first time he’s done it and the thing about Pete, he’s a gamer,” Albernaz said. “He wants to win, loves to play, he plays the game hard, plays the game right and you can tell right when the ball was hit and he got in the gap – there was no slowing down for him, and he’s making jokes about open-field speed when he gets going. But yeah, it was a great send by Buck and we’ve seen Pete do that before and it’s fun to watch.”

“It’s a great slide,” Jackson said. “Great read off the bat for him. Obviously, the first one, the tying run, is huge, but obviously, the go-ahead one is the one we want. For him to get in there and make it happen was awesome.”

Pete Crow-Armstrong greeted Tyler Wells in the top of the eighth with a shallow fly ball that fell in front of a diving O’Neill for a double. He scored with one out on Suzuki’s double on a bouncer inside third base and down the line.

The grounds crew raced onto the field and lined up behind the tarp after the top of the seventh inning, increasing speculation that the area was close to being hit by rain. The Orioles could have used a few hits.

O’Neill homered in his third consecutive at-bat, leading off the second inning with a 398-foot shot to center field off Cubs left-hander David Peterson. O’Neill came off the bench last night and homered twice.

He provided the last hit today until Jackson stepped into the box. The Orioles relied on seven walks and two hit batters for most of their offense.

“We hit a lot of balls hard, like a lot of balls hard,” Albernaz said. “And baseball, you can’t control where the ball goes. There’s a lot of good swings today.”

This is the 16th time in O’Neill’s career that he’s homered in at least two straight games. He’s collected four this month in five games and only three starts.

Ryan Mountcastle was the last Oriole to homer in three straight plate appearances on June 19, 2021 against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards.

Building on the lead was no small task.

A safe call on Leody Taveras’ leadoff bunt in the third was overturned. Adley Rutschman and Taylor Ward walked, but Henderson’s tough-luck at-bats continued with a 107.3 mph ground ball turned into a 4-6-3 double play.

Henderson has hit into three double plays against the Cubs, matching his season total before the series.

Walks to Alonso leading off the fourth and Rutschman with two outs in the fifth didn’t hurt Peterson. Gavin Hollowell replaced him in the sixth, walked Alonso and pinch-hitter Jackson Holliday, threw a wild pitch with two outs and retired Samuel Basallo on a fly ball to the left field warning track. A home run for sure before the wall moved back.

Rogers stranded runners on second and third in the first inning, after Alex Bregman walked with one out and Suzuki reached on an infield single. Blaze Alexander fielded the ball, looked to second, spun and threw past Alonso for an error. Suzuki stole second base, but Rogers got out of the jam in a 27-pitch inning.

An eight-pitch second was precisely what Rogers and the Orioles needed. He also notched his third strikeout.

Michael Busch singled with two outs in the fourth and tried to score on Hoerner’s double down the left field line. Ward fired to Henderson, whose throw home nabbed Busch and preserved a 1-0 lead.

With the sky growing darker, Dansby Swanson lined a one-out single into left field and stole second base. Taveras raced into left-center and made a diving catch to rob Miguel Amaya.

Suzuki pummeled a changeup from Rogers, who allowed one run and five hits in six innings. He threw 89 pitches, 60 for strikes.

Rogers has permitted only eight runs in his last seven starts over 41 2/3 innings for a 1.73 ERA. His season mark is down to 4.48.

“I think after that first inning, I was able to settle in really nice,” Rogers said. “Sammy did a great job back there again, like he usually will. If you throw a changeup middle-middle, it’s probably going to go a long way, so, one bad pitch, but it’s what he (Suzuki) is supposed to do. They’re a really tough lineup and had to grind through most of it, and I was just lucky to get through six solid innings and we pulled out the ‘dub right there and salvaged the series.”