Saturday was another pretty good day for the Cubs.

Justin Steele threw five strong innings in his return from the injured list and the offense did just enough to beat the Orioles 3-2 in front of 40,605 at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have won five straight and seven of eight and pulled to within four games of the .500 mark.

Getting Steele back made the day a positive regardless of the result.

Working 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 top of the fifth when Adley Rutschman’s home run tied the game at 2.

That home run aside, Saturday was encouraging for the Cubs. Before suffering the left forearm strain during a shortened start against the Rays that landed him on the injured list, Steele was establishing himself as one of the National League’s best starters and an anchor of the Cubs’ rotation for 2023 and the future.

In his first start since, Steele still looked the part.

Meanwhile, an offense that had scored 38 times over the past four games gave the Cubs the lead in the third. With two outs against Orioles starter Kyle Gibson, Nico Hoerner’s double to left-center drove in Miles Mastrobuoni and Mike Tauchman.

That lead held until the fifth, when Steele allowed Austin Hays’ single and then Rutschman’s two-run homer to left to tie the game. The Cubs took back the lead in the bottom of the fifth on Tauchman’s sacrifice fly that drove in Gomes.

Hoerner kept the Cubs in front in the seventh. With runners on first and second and two outs against Cubs reliever Mark Leiter Jr., Hoerner ranged to his left to snag Gunnar Henderson’s grounder and get him at first to end the threat.

Adbert Alzolay picked up his fourth save in four tries, getting Rutschman to ground out with a runner on first to end the game.