Chicago Cubs at Baltimore Orioles

In the late stages of a mid-July game on Thursday afternoon, Craig Albernaz was managing like it was October -- because if the rookie skipper doesn’t manage like this now, his Orioles may not end up making it to October. One sequence during the eighth inning of the O's 3-2 victory over the Cubs at Camden Yards -- a win that was much needed, as they all are at this point -- flipped the contest. In the process, it showed what Albernaz is willing to do to come out on top. Here was the situation: Trailing 2-1, the Orioles had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the eighth after Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso were hit by consecutive pitches from right-hander Tyler Ferguson. Although Ferguson was struggling with command, Baltimore opted to send the left-handed-hitting Dylan Beavers to the plate in place of Tyler O’Neill (who had homered in the second inning). It seemed to be a good spot for Beavers. But Albernaz also thought it might trigger a countermove from Chicago manager Craig Counsell -- and he was right. The Cubs pulled Ferguson and called on lefty Ryan Rolison. At that point, Albernaz knew he was going to counter that counter by deploying the right-handed-hitting Jeremiah Jackson as a second pinch-hitter. Sure, Beavers would be done for the day. But it set up a matchup in which the O’s were quite confident.