Baltimore 4, Chi. White Sox 3
When: 8:10 PM ET, Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Where: U.S Cellular Field, Chicago, Illinois
Temperature:
83°
Umpires:
Home -
Eric Cooper, 1B -
Tom Hallion, 2B -
Hal Gibson III, 3B -
Chris Guccione
Attendance:
15137
By SportsDirect Inc.
Orioles 4, White Sox 3: Nelson Cruz slammed a two-run homer and Steve Pearce and Adam Jones added solo shots as visiting Baltimore completed a three-game series sweep.
Jones collected three hits and scored two runs to help the Orioles extend their winning streak to four and open a nine-game lead atop the American League East. Wei-Yin Chen (13-4) permitted three runs on six hits while striking out seven over 7 1/3 innings and Zach Britton registered his 27th save as Baltimore improved to a major league-best 31-13 since June 30.
Avisail Garcia hammered a two-run homer and drove in all three runs for Chicago, which dropped a season-worst nine games below .500 with its 12th defeat in 17 games. Hector Noesi (7-9) took the loss despite striking out a season-high eight, giving up four runs and seven hits over seven innings.
Garcia lined a homer into the bullpen in left in the first inning, but the Orioles answered with three runs in the fourth on a leadoff homer by Pearce and a two-run shot by Cruz, his major league-leading 33rd of the year. Jones extended the lead to 4-2 with his 24th homer leading off the sixth.
A sacrifice fly by Garcia plated Alexei Ramirez in the sixth to cut the deficit to 4-3 and the White Sox mounted a threat in the eighth with a pair of one-out singles by Ramirez and Alejandro De Aza to chase Chen. Darren O'Day came on and escaped the jam by striking out Jose Abreu and Garcia.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Cruz matched his career-best home run total set in 2009 with Texas. ... Garcia, who was sidelined more than four months with a torn labrum in his shoulder, hit his third homer of the season and first since April 8. ... Baltimore heads across town to open a three-game interleague series against the Cubs on Friday night while the White Sox visit the New York Yankees on Friday for the opener of a three-game set.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Baltimore
|
8 |
3 |
18 |
.235 |
6 |
9 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Chi. White Sox
|
6 |
1 |
11 |
.188 |
9 |
10 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |