First baseman Pete Alonso followed Taylor Ward’s leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth inning with his 20th home run, launching a sinker from Cubs starter Colin Rea 411 feet to center field to give the Orioles a 3-1 lead.

Dean Kremer surrendered three homers in the top of the fifth, including back-to-back shots from Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly on his first two pitches, and the Orioles fell behind again.

How would a last-place team with buyer aspirations respond to the latest kick in the head? Get off the mat or pound fists into it? The frustration would be understandable.

Three home runs over the last three innings couldn’t overcome the five hit by the Cubs tonight in a 9-7 loss before an announced crowd of 18,935 at Camden Yards.

Seiya Suzuki’s three-run shot off Grant Wolfram appeared to break open the game in the seventh, before Tyler O’Neill homered twice and Coby Mayo reached the second deck. Drama unfolded, but the Orioles fell to 42-51, and another loss Thursday would put them a season-worst 10 games below .500.

Kremer allowed a career-high four homers in five innings, including a pair from Pete Crow-Armstrong. He was charged with four runs and six hits, and manager Craig Albernaz removed him after 92 pitches.

Ward crashed into the left field fence at full speed while catching Alex Bregman’s fly ball in the first inning. He saved a run from scoring because the next batter, Michael Busch, singled into center field – only the third hit this season against Kremer’s splitter.

The fourth was a home run from Crow-Armstrong onto the flag court that gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Kremer used the pitch to get ahead 0-2 before Crow-Armstrong golfed a ball that barely caught the bottom of the strike zone.

Kremer bent over with hands on knees as he watched it sail over the out-of-town scoreboard.

Crow-Armstrong is the first Cubs player with consecutive 20-homer, 20-steal seasons since Sammy Sosa in 1993-95.

The Orioles tied the game 1-1 in the third after a leadoff single by Blaze Alexander and Jackson Holliday’s single. Gunnar Henderson grounded into a 6-3 double play, the ball leaving his bat at 103.7 mph. Henderson also hit into a double play after another Holliday single in the fifth, raising his season total to five.

Holliday singled again in the seventh and doubled in the eighth for his first multi-hit game since May 29 and third career four-hit game.

Ian Happ’s 103.8 mph single in the fourth also came against the split. Adley Rutschman threw him out trying to steal.

Conforto homered on a 92.3 mph fastball in the fifth, Carson Kelly barreled a cutter to tie the game, and Crow-Armstrong drove a splitter 419 feet to right-center with one out.

“I thought he threw the ball well outside of that one inning,” Albernaz said. “Both of PCA’s home runs, they were good pitches and he’s a really good hitter and did a good job of getting underneath the split. The other ones were just out over the plate and they put good swings on them.”

“I mean, PCA beat me on the second one, for sure,” Kremer said. “It was a good pitch, he hit it pretty well. The Conforto one and the other PCA one was just kind of the ballpark there. Both were hit at 94, so nothing I can really do there. And then the one Carson hit, that’s one of those ones where you let go and you just know. So out of the four, that one is the one, to me, that it is what it is. That’s like 10 times out of 10 that’s probably a homer.

“I mean, I’m not going to take anything back. I felt like I executed very well. I executed the game plan very well, and balls just got hit up in the air and they carried. So overall it just kind of is what it is. Not really looking to change my approach. Ball’s been coming out pretty good this whole year, but it is what it is.”
MLB.com posted a list of other Orioles starters who surrendered four homers but allowed only four runs:

Pat Dobson on May 21, 1971 vs. Red Sox
Mike Flanagan on May 25, 1980 vs. Tigers
Jason Hammel on May 30, 2012 at Toronto
Bud Norris on Sept. 7, 2014 at Tampa Bay
Bruce Zimmermann on May 24, 2022 at New York

Wolfram inherited a runner from Rico Garcia in the seventh and Bregman lifted a sacrifice fly. Wolfram walked two batters, and a bases-loaded wild pitch increased the Cubs’ lead to 6-3.

It got a lot worse when Suzuki demolished a slider.

O’Neill belted his second career pinch-hit home run leading off the bottom of the seventh inning, the first coming on Aug. 22, 2018 at Dodger Stadium.

Alex Jackson had the last Orioles pinch-hit homer on July 26, 2025 against Colorado.

Ward added an RBI single, and Mayo launched a pinch-hit homer into the second deck off Caleb Thielbar in the eighth – the ball traveling 420 feet at 113 mph. O’Neill went back-to-back with his 433-footer to left-center at 108.7 mph.

O’Neill has 13 career multi-homer games. He’s homered three times in his last four games.

Mayo hadn’t homered off the bench before tonight. Eight players have reached the second deck, most recently Austin Hays on June 7, 2022.

“That would have gone out of Yosemite,” said Alonso, the 21st player in Orioles history with 20 homers before the break. “That was just an absolute beauty of one.”

Tonight marked the fifth time that the Orioles had two pinch-hit homers in the same game. Also Vic Roznovsky and Boog Powell in 1966, John Shelby and Bennie Ayala in 1984, Wayne Gross and Larry Sheets in 1985, and Pat Valaika and Pedro Severino in 2020.

Holliday doubled with two outs and Swanson made a diving catch of Henderson’s 103.6 mph line drive. Henderson stopped along the first base line and bent over in frustration, much like Kremer earlier in the game.

The Orioles showed life, the kind that can lift a team off the mat and up the standings, but they couldn’t muster a comeback.

“Something I’ve been talking about with this group all year, they don’t quit, they don’t give in, and they fight until the last out,” Albernaz said. “It was good to see T.O. come off the bench, which is tough to do, and hit two homers. And the same thing with Coby. That was an impressive home run. Like eight guys have hit that spot. It was great.

“They were ready off the bench. That’s what I love about the guys that, they’re not in the lineup, they know their name could be called and they’re ready for it. And our guys did a good job of fighting back. Who knows what would happen if Dansby didn’t make an unbelievable play up the middle on Gunnar’s line drive. I was proud of our guys for fighting, but still came up short.”

Time change

The Orioles are moving the start time for Thursday’s game from 6:35 p.m. to 1:35 p.m. due to forecasted inclement weather.

Fans holding tickets who can’t attend should visit Orioles.com/Weather for options.

Down on the farm

Catcher Chadwick Tromp cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.

Cade Povich allowed seven runs and six hits with four walks in 3 1/3 innings in Game 1 of a doubleheader against Syracuse. Yaramil Hiraldo tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings with three walks and a strikeout on his rehab assignment.

Double-A Chesapeake’s Juaron Watts-Brown allowed one run and four hits in five innings in Akron, with one walk and eight strikeouts.

Class A Delmarva infielder Cobb Hightower went on the seven-day IL after leaving last night’s game with a knee injury.