Henderson's heroics carry Orioles to victory (updated)

CHICAGO – For seven and two-thirds innings, things looked bleak for the Orioles' offense. 

Yesterday, the Birds were blanked in nine innings. Trevor Rogers' eight-inning complete game, allowing just one run, was for naught. 

This afternoon, it looked as if the Orioles would squander another solid pitching performance. Baltimore had allowed just three earned runs in seven innings, and the offense was, once again, shut out. 

For over sixteen innings, the O's offense was lifeless. 

A three-run home run from Gunnar Henderson in the eighth inning changed everything, and the Orioles walked away victorious, 4-3. 

A come-from-behind victory featuring a three-run homer from your superstar against one of the better teams in baseball is certainly a way to get the vibes back after a tough week. 

"I do think that, when you win a game like that, it does allow you to move forward," interim manager Tony Mansolino said of the importance of this game.

"Because there is a scenario there where it can get kind of ugly and momentum can build in the wrong direction there for a while. To come into this place and yesterday, the ball TO hits doesn’t get out, you know, then Gunnar hits that ball right there which was just so incredible. To pull out a game against a team that’s going to contend for the World Series? It’s a really big deal."

The bottom of the first inning was a loud one for the Cubs, but it didn’t result in any runs. Colton Cowser and Dylan Carlson sure did become well acquainted with the outfield ivy on long fly balls from Michael Busch and Seiya Suzuki, though. 

“I feel like I was able to get outs from the top hitters, and got some good defense from Cowser," Tomoyuki Sugano said. "So, that really helped.”

The second featured plenty of loud contact for the Cubs, too, but this time, those hard-hit balls found grass. 

Ian Happ started things off with a rocket double into the right-field corner. Willi Castro followed with a single and nearly scored on a Nico Hoerner double, but the ball disappeared into the Wrigley ivy. Still, after three consecutive hits, the Cubs had jumped on top 1-0. 

A Reese McGuire sacrifice fly plated Castro and gave Chicago a 2-0 lead at the end of two. 

The Cubbies added on in the fourth, due in part to a tough play in the outfield by Jeremiah Jackson. Typically an infielder, Jackson has just seven appearances in right field in his professional career. The ball seems to find you in those situations. 

Castro hit a sharp liner to right, and the ball got by Jackson on his sliding attempt. It allowed the newly-acquired Cub to advance to third and put a runner in scoring position with just one away. The next batter, Hoerner, brought him home with a sharp base knock of his own to make it 3-0 Chicago.

It was another tough afternoon for the Orioles at the plate, this time against lefty starter Matthew Boyd. Part of what makes Boyd so difficult to hit is his speed differential. 

The lefty throws the ninth-slowest curveball in baseball at an average of 73.5 mph, according to Statcast. His four-seam fastball, though, averages 93.3 mph, making for a 20 mph difference between the two. 

For some additional context there, among the nine other pitchers with the ten-slowest curveballs in the game, the average four-seam fastball velocity is just 91.6 mph. Couple those two pitches with an effective changeup/slider combination, and you’ve got a pitcher that entered play with a 2.47 ERA. 

Plus, according to FanGraphs, Boyd had the 13th-best location-plus in the big leagues entering play, a metric defined as “a count- and pitch type-adjusted judge of a pitcher’s ability to put pitches in the right place. No velocity, movement, or any other physical characteristics are included in the statistic.” 

Not a formula for opposing batters to be able to find a ton of success. 

"Boyd threw the ball exceptionally well today, it was tough timing him up," Henderson said. "But I’m glad we were able to sneak that win out at the end there."

For the O's, Sugano found a good but not great formula this afternoon. 

His final line read three earned runs in five innings of work on five hits and one walk with five punchouts. It was far from his most efficient day with 95 pitches in through those five frames, but he did enough to keep the Orioles in the ballgame. 

On the bright side, after Rogers’ eight-inning complete game yesterday, the Orioles had a completely rested bullpen. 

That, seemingly, didn’t matter too much, though, as the Birds’ lineup just couldn’t get anything going against Boyd. For the second consecutive game, the Cubs’ starter had tossed a shutout. 

Yesterday, Cade Horton tossed five scoreless. Today, Boyd went seven scoreless, allowing just four hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. Good day at the office. 

The O's 'pen was solid in relief of Sugano. Corbin Martin and Grant Wolfram worked themselves into jams, but they also worked themselves out of them. No harm, no foul. Except for the pitch count. 

In the eighth, the Orioles' offense found a bit of life. 

Cowser, who had an eventful day defensively, led off the inning with a walk. Jackson followed with a single to put runners on first and second with nobody away. Terrin Vavra hit a rocket directly to Hoerner for the first out, but Holliday was up with a chance to do some damage.  

The leadoff hitter grounded into a forceout, but Jordan Westburg delivered with two away. The first baseman found some outfield grass the opposite way and put Baltimore on the board. Still, though, the O's trailed 3-1.

That was until Henderson came to the dish. 

With two strikes against him, the star shortstop launched a three-run homer into the Wrigley wind. When it landed, it gave Baltimore a 4-3 lead. He enthusiastically met Buck Britton trotting down the third-base line, and the dugout had life. 

"That’s a huge homer," Mansolino said. "We’ve talked a lot about that core group of players has to be the group that kind of drives this thing, and you think about Jackson hits a ground ball right there to the shortstop, beats out a double play. He doesn’t jog down the line, he busts his butt down the line, keeps the inning going. Westburg, the opposite-field, two-strike knock right there. Then obviously, the big blow comes from Gunnar. Adley swung the bat great today, he hit some balls hard all day. You start thinking about the core group -- Cowser made unbelievable plays in left field and kept us in the game early today.

That’s the core group, and those are the main reasons why we were able to pull that thing out."

Yennier Cano entered in the eighth and quickly delivered a 1-2-3. 

Left-handers Busch and Kyle Tucker were due up in the bottom of the 9th, so Keegan Akin got the ball to close things out. 

The lefty got a first-pitch groundout from Matt Shaw, and was faced with the right-handed pinch-hitting Carson Kelly with one away. Kelly drew a walk, and Tucker came to the dish. 

Punchout. Two down. 

Suzuki and his 26 home runs stepped into the batter's box. 

Full count. Walk. PCA time. 

The MVP candidate was first-pitch hacking, but fouled one behind him. Second pitch, a swinging strike. 

Two balls from Akin evened things at 2-2. The young center fielder then fouled off a changeup, then he fouled off a four-seamer. 

The next pitch? Strikeout, ballgame. 

"We are proud of Keegan," Mansolino said. "He’s one of those guys that even in the toughest of moments right there, his heart doesn’t speed up a whole lot."

Without a doubt, it has been a tough week for the individuals in the Orioles' clubhouse. A win like this can help turn things around. 

The Orioles have the chance to win the series tomorrow.