Saturday was another pretty good day for the Cubs.
The most important part was Justin Steele throwing five strong innings in their 3-2 win over the Orioles in front of 40,605 at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have won five straight and seven of eight and pulled within four games of .500.
Getting Steele back from a strained left forearm made the day a positive regardless of the result.
“He’s a huge part of our success, that’s no secret,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “He looked like himself. That’s all you can ask for.”
Starting for the first time since May 31, Steele struck out four and allowed five hits over 74 pitches. The biggest blemish came with two outs in the fifth when Adley Rutschman’s homer on a hanging breaking ball tied the game at 2.
That home run aside, Saturday was encouraging for Steele and the Cubs.
“It was a nice little break for him, just making sure he’s 100%,” manager David Ross said of Steele’s time on the 15-day injured list. “We felt that way the more we got into the [injured list] stint, just him being able to throw extended bullpens, be able to continue to trust in what he’s doing and build on that. It was just really nice to see him come out and be really clean.”
Before suffering the injury during a shortened start against the Rays, Steele was establishing himself as one of the National League’s best starters and an anchor of the Cubs’ rotation for 2023 and beyond. He still looked the part after being eager to get back in the rotation.
“I was just kind of starting to drive myself nuts, not being able to get out there and help the team,” Steele said. “There were many days I was just finding myself pacing around, especially during the game [and] not knowing what to do. It just felt really good to get back out there and play ball with the team.”
Steele’s teammates are doing a good job of that. Hoerner had a two-run double in the third to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. He also helped keep the Cubs in front in the seventh, ranging to his left to snag Gunnar Henderson’s two-out grounder and get him at first to strand runners at first and second.
The Cubs also benefitted from the legs of catcher Yan Gomes. He began the third-inning rally by streaking to first after swinging through a wild pitch and scored what turned out to be the game-winning run in the fifth on Mike Tauchman’s sacrifice fly to left.
The bullpen, which had been a sore spot over the early part of the season, continued its improvement, throwing four scoreless innings. Julian Merryweather worked the sixth, Mark Leiter Jr. the seventh and eighth and Adbert Alzolay closed it out.
“Guys are throwing really well down there [in the bullpen],” Ross said. “Pitching was the story today.”
Steele’s return made it a happy story for the Cubs. Showing what he did will continue the positive feelings around the team, which is positioning itself to contend in a division that’s there for the taking.
“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” Steele said. “We feel like if we go out there and play our brand of baseball each and every day or night out, we’re going to be in a really good spot.”
