After 9th-inning rally, Orioles fall to Cubs, 5-3, on walk-off homer

CHICAGO — The Orioles managed to put together another late rally, but this time the Cubs punched back.

After orchestrating a late comeback to beat the Cubs on Saturday, Baltimore showed more of the same fight by erasing 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to send Sunday afternoon’s game to the ninth inning tied. However, Justin Turner hit a two-run walk-off home run against Keegan Akin to send the home crowd singing its way out the Wrigley Field gates for a series victory.

Ryan Noda, pinch hitting in his first Orioles at-bat after being claimed off waivers from the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, tied the game with an RBI single in the ninth with Baltimore down to its final out.

“It’s a spot you dream of as a kid,” Noda said. “Ninth inning, two outs, guy on second, down by one. Just trying to do a team at-bat, doing anything I can to get that guy in. Fortunately today, he left something over the middle of the plate, and I capitalized on it.”

Ultimately, that just set the stage for Turner’s blast. Interim manager Tony Mansolino turned to Akin for the ninth despite the left-hander throwing 27 pitches in a converted save opportunity Saturday. After the club traded four relievers and placed closer Félix Bautista on the injured list in July, Mansolino is relying on some different names in key spots.

“I think they did great,” Mansolino said of the Orioles’ new-look relief corps. “For the most part, they threw up zeroes the whole weekend, minus the home run by J.T. there at the end of the game, who’s done that a lot in his career in bigger moments than that. Minus the swing right there, you have to feel good about the way the guys handled themselves.”

The Orioles (51-61) first fell behind 2-0 in the first inning when right fielder Jeremiah Jackson, a natural infielder thrust into the relatively new position only a few games into his MLB career, dropped a routine flyball that led to an eventual run. Starter Brandon Young gave up several hard-hit balls in the frame — the last of which, a double by left fielder Ian Happ, brought in another unearned run.

“We’re asking a lot out of him,” Mansolino said of Jackson. “In a way, it’s unfair that we’re asking him to go play right field at Wrigley Field ... but we’re doing it because we need offense. As you can see over the last two days, we haven’t scored a lot of runs. We’re missing a few guys right now.”

Jackson redeemed himself in the field by linking up with second baseman Jackson Holliday and catcher Alex Jackson to throw a runner out at home on a relay play to end the first inning. Yes, three Jacksons were involved in the play.

Young settled in, putting two more runners aboard in the second before retiring eight Cubs in a row to get into the fifth without any further damage. Baltimore took advantage and climbed back into the game with an RBI groundout by Gunnar Henderson in the third and Colton Cowser’s run-scoring single in the fourth.

That score held until the sixth, when new reliever Dietrich Enns allowed the Cubs to string together three straight singles, capped by Dansby Swanson driving in the go-ahead run. He first entered the game in relief of Young with two outs and runners on the corners in the fifth and struck out center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong to escape the jam.

“I think continuing to attack and get ahead and just knowing that I don’t need to throw the perfect pitch with two strikes,” Young said of how he can start pitching deeper into games. “I think that’s the biggest thing. I think I got 0-2 on a few guys and just remember getting 1-2, 2-2, 3-2 right away. Trying to make the perfect pitch instead of just going after him.”

Chicago starter Colin Rea lasted only 4 2/3 innings but the Cubs bullpen, including former Baltimore reliever Andrew Kittredge, shut the Orioles offense down until Cowser doubled and Noda drove him in against right-hander Daniel Palencia in the ninth.

What they’re saying

Mansolino on how the Orioles fought in their series with the Cubs:

“Just awesome, really a good series even though we lost two of three. We came in to play a World Series-caliber team, and you lose the first one, 1-0, and you have the big game in the second game, and won one, and today you put yourself in a position to win the second one in Game 3. The guys swung the bats [well], a lot of hard-hit balls, a lot of loud outs for us today. The balls didn’t go our way.”

By the numbers

Noda is the first player to collect a pinch-hit RBI in his first career Orioles at-bat since outfielder Jon Knott hit a three-run home run off the bench in a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on April 17, 2007. Knott only wound up playing nine games for Baltimore in what was a brief MLB career.

Postgame analysis

Through the first nine starts of his MLB career, Young has gotten through the fifth inning only twice. Mansolino hasn’t yet trusted the right-hander to get out of his own messes once the lineup turns the third time through, and that proved to be the case Sunday as he turned to Enns to face Crow-Armstrong with the game tied in the fifth.

It’s a key hurdle that any young starter must overcome to stick in a big league rotation long term, and the Orioles will eventually need to give him chances to prove himself in those situations if he’s going to be a part of their long-term plans. However, as his 5.88 ERA indicates, Young is still struggling to limit runs against lineups the first and second time around.

If and when he begins to show consistency early in games, he will likely start to get more opportunities to finish outings so that he can start providing more bulk-inning starts.

On deck

The Orioles continue their road trip with a three-game series against the Phillies beginning Monday night in Philadelphia. Cade Povich is expected to return from the injured list to start the opener, followed by Dean Kremer on Tuesday and Trevor Rogers on Wednesday.

Around the horn

— The Orioles recalled Noda before Sunday’s game and designated utility player Terrin Vavra for assignment. Noda is expected to be a left-handed first base and corner outfield option off the bench. Baltimore then claimed two more players during the game: utility player Vidal Bruján (Cubs) and right-hander Carson Ragsdale (San Francisco Giants).

— It was an eventful day for Triple-A Norfolk as top prospects Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers combined to hit three home runs in an eventual 10-9 walk-off victory for the Tides. Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish made his third rehabilitation start — his first in Triple-A — and allowed seven runs (five earned) in three innings on 57 pitches (36 strikes). Bradish gave up six hits, struck out three and walked one.

— Ryan Mountcastle (hamstring) originally hoped to return from the IL for the start of the Orioles’ series against the Phillies on Monday but Mansolino said before the game that the first baseman was going to need a few more days. Mansolino maintained that Mountcastle’s hamstring was fine; the Orioles felt he needed to get more at-bats before he was ready.