Down 8-0, O's rally to tie, but lose on HR in ninth (quotes added)

The start of the second half was delayed by rain tonight. Once the game did begin, Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman gave up four homers and eight runs over three innings.

But what looked like a terrible start to their post All-Star break schedule would get better for the Orioles. It just didn't have a happy ending.

After the Orioles scored eight unanswered runs to come from 8-0 down for an 8-8 tie, the Cubs won it 9-8 with a homer in the ninth.

No. 9 hitter shortstop Addison Russell blasted a first-pitch fastball from Brad Brach over the wall in left to break the tie. He hit his eighth homer 402 feet off a 96 mph fastball.

The Orioles had rallied from 8-0 down in the third to tie the game at 8-8 in the last of the eighth on Mark Trumbo's two-run homer. Earlier they had scored single runs in the third and fourth and four in the fifth to pull within 8-6. Trumbo's 15th homer brought them all the way to even with eight unanswered runs.

Earlier, four of the seven hits Gausman allowed left the ballpark as he tied his career-high for runs allowed and set a new one for homers given up. This was the third time in his career he allowed eight runs and the last time was April 18 of this year at Cincinnati. He had given up three homers in a game five times previously.

Tonight he was behind 4-0 after five batters. Cleanup hitter Willson Contreras hit a 440-foot, three-run homer to left-center (his 12th) and Kyle Schwarber followed with a 433-foot shot on the very next pitch (his 14th) as the Cubs went back-to-back for the fourth time on the season.

Ben Zobrist's two-run homer in the second was his eighth as the lead grew to 6-0. An inning later Jason Heyward's two-run shot made it 8-0 and was his seventh.

Over three innings, Gausman threw 69 pitches as his ERA grew to 6.39. He has allowed 14 runs on 16 hits in seven innings his past two starts and this was his eighth start allowing five runs or more.

Orioles starting pitchers have gone eight games without a quality start and have just five in the last 34 games. Tonight their starter failed to pitch six innings or more for the 26th time in 30 games.

But after falling behind 8-0, the Orioles scored in three straight innings over the third through the fifth to pull within 8-6. Welington Castillo's solo homer to center, his ninth, made it 8-1 in the third. A Chris Davis RBI double an inning later made it 8-2.

The O's scored four times in the fifth. With one out, Manny Machado singled and went to third on Jonathan Schoop's double and that knocked out Cubs starter Mike Montgomery after 4 1/3 innings. Trumbo greeted reliever Jason Grimm with a single to make it 8-3. Trey Mancini's two-out single made it 8-4. Later in the inning, Joey Rickard's two-run single to left on a 3-2 pitch made it 8-6.

They dug all the way out of that big hole to get even tonight. But the end result was another loss as they fall to 42-47 while the Cubs improved to 44-45.

In the second game of this series on Saturday night, left-hander Wade Miley (4-7, 4.97 ERA) faces former Oriole Jake Arrieta (8-7, 4.35 ERA).

Here are the postgame quotes.

Gausman on allowing the four homers: "You know, Schwarber, he was swinging first pitch there and kind of riding where he likes to hit the ball. Overall, just bad execution. Too many pitches in the zone in spots where they like them. Pretty terrible."

Gausman asked about a poor start to his second half: "Yeah, it's frustrating. Obviously I wanted to come out here and hit the ground running going into the second half. It was bad. Kind of became a two-pitch pitcher out there. When you are a starter trying to do that, some days you can get away with it. Most days you can't. It was bad execution."

Trumbo on the comeback: "We did a really good job. Down that many early is tough. We did everything we could to get back in it today."

Trumbo when asked "what does the team need to do on this homestand?": "We need to play good baseball. Obviously win, but show some signs of life that we did tonight, you know. We did everything we could for it to go our way, but they just did a little better."