Baltimore Orioles at Chicago Cubs: Final Score & Recap
Line Score
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 1 |
| CHC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
The Story
The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Chicago Cubs 6-3 at Wrigley Field on June 18, 2023, handing Chicago a loss the DiamondIQ model's estimate made increasingly inevitable as the game progressed — the pre-game home win probability stood at 38%, and it finished at 0%. Baltimore collected 14 hits against just 3 for the Cubs, a disparity that told the story of a game where the Orioles controlled the offensive flow despite an early Chicago response.
The decisive sequence came in the top of the sixth inning, where Baltimore turned a competitive game into a comfortable lead with three runs against Cubs pitching. Aaron Hicks delivered the biggest blow of that frame, a double off Jameson Taillon that carried the largest single win-probability swing of any play in the game at plus 14.1 percent. Adam Frazier followed with a single off Anthony Kay worth plus 11.4 percent, and Jorge Mateo added another single for plus 9.3 percent, making that sixth inning the turning point by a considerable margin. Earlier, Anthony Santander had given Baltimore a lead with a fourth-inning home run off Taillon worth plus 11.3 percent. The Cubs briefly made it a game when Christopher Morel answered with a solo home run off Dean Kremer in the bottom of the fourth, a swing worth plus 21.0 percent that briefly tightened things, and Morel finished as Chicago's top performer at plus 14.4 percent WPA and plus 1.1 RE24.
On the Baltimore side, Hicks led all batters with plus 19.9 percent WPA and plus 1.7 RE24, capping a strong individual effort that anchored the sixth-inning rally. Among pitchers, Yennier Cano was the standout with plus 21.3 percent WPA, followed by Danny Coulombe at plus 7.5 percent and Hayden Wesneski at plus 4.5 percent — a Baltimore bullpen that collectively shut down any Cubs comeback attempt after Morel's fourth-inning spark. Nick Madrigal contributed plus 9.6 percent WPA for Chicago but the Cubs' three-hit night left their offense with too little to work with against an Orioles club that ran its hit total to 14 on the afternoon.