CHICAGO (AP) — Pinch-hitter Adley Rutschman lined a tiebreaking, two-run single in the eighth inning, Gunnar Henderson hit his 17th homer and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 6-4 on Friday night.
Center fielder Colton Cowser robbed Tommy Pham of a solo homer for the final out and the Orioles hung on for another tight win a day after beating Chicago 8-6 in a game that ended on an infield fly and an interference call.
Ryan O’Hearn doubled leading off the eighth against John Brebbia and Anthony Santander walked with one out. After Cowser lined out, Rutschman came through on a 3-2 pitch with a single to left that a diving Andrew Benintendi trapped.
O’Hearn scored easily, and Santander hustled all the way from first on the play. He dived headfirst around the tag to make it 6-4 and the Orioles won their second straight following a three-game sweep at St. Louis.
“You’re not playing in the game, you get that adrenaline rush when you step in there for the first time,” Rutschman said. “Big situation, usually. (You’re) trying to ease your mind a little bit, prepare as much in the cage as you can in the cage so you get as relaxed as possible going in there.”
Henderson doubled and scored in the third. He hit a two-run homer against White Sox starter Chris Flexen in a three-run fifth that made it 4-0.
The White Sox scored three in the bottom half against Corbin Burnes on an RBI double by Andrew Vaughn and two-run single by Paul DeJong. Vaughn tied it at at 4 with one out in the seventh when he smacked a solo homer against Yennier Cano.
Burnes went six innings and allowed three runs and seven hits. Danny Coulombe (2-0) pitched the eighth. Craig Kimbrel got three outs for his 11th save in 14 chances, striking out Zach DeLoach and retiring Nicky Lopez on a grounder before a leaping Cowser ended it with a spectacular catch.
The White Sox fell to a major league-worst 15-37 with their seventh loss in eight games.
Flexen was charged with four runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings in another rough outing. The right-hander gave up seven runs in four innings in a loss to the New York Yankees on Sunday.
Vaughn drove in two runs and scored twice.
“He’s feeling good at the plate,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “That’s who he is. The home run was impressive to right-center. The double was impressive was impressive to left-center. That’s who Vaughnie is.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: RHP Dean Kremer (strained right triceps) was placed on the 15-day injured list, another hit to their rotation after veteran John Means (strained left forearm) was placed on the 15-day list the previous day. Manager Brandon Hyde said Means was getting a second opinion.
White Sox: Placed RHP Dominic Leone (right elbow inflammation) on the 15-day disabled list and recalled RHP Justin Anderson from Triple-A Charlotte. … GM Chris Getz said OF Luis Robert Jr. (right hip) is “doing really well” rehabbing in Arizona.
UP NEXT
RHP Albert Suárez (2-0, 1.78 ERA) starts in Kremer’s place, while Chicago’s RHP Erick Fedde (4-1, 3.10 ERA) looks to bounce back after giving up five runs in a loss at Toronto on Monday.
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