Orioles turn page from sweep, beat White Sox, 2-1, behind Brandon Young
· Yahoo Sports
CHICAGO — The Baltimore Orioles needed a strong pitching performance to stabilize their rotation. It came from one of their most unlikely sources Monday night.
Making his first major league start of the season, Brandon Young threw five scoreless innings to lead the Orioles to a 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox. The right-hander was perhaps as low as eighth on the club’s starting pitching depth chart when the season began, but injuries and a slow start for its rotation forced Baltimore to call Young up just 10 games in.
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He delivered, showcasing a new-look arsenal that now includes a two-seam fastball and working efficiently to blank the lowly White Sox on two hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Young threw first-pitch strikes to 13 of the 18 batters he faced and induced six ground-ball outs. Coming off a rookie season in which he posted a 6.24 ERA, Young made the most of his first opportunity to show he can take a step forward in his sophomore campaign.
The Orioles (4-6) broke up a three-game losing streak after the Pittsburgh Pirates swept them over the weekend. Their biggest swing of the day came courtesy of Gunnar Henderson, who launched his third home run of the season with a 105.3 mph solo shot down the right-field line that snuck inside the foul pole in the sixth. Their other run, however, was bittersweet.
Tyler O’Neill stepped up to the plate in the fourth with Adley Rutschman on first base and skied a pop fly to the third-base side. The ball appeared to be headed for foul territory, but on a windy night at Rate Field, it drifted back toward the line. Former Orioles outfielder Austin Hays was running toward the ball when he pulled his right hamstring, forcing him to come up lame. The ball dropped fair in front of him and Rutschman scored, running on contact with two outs.
O’Neill, however, thought the ball was going foul and didn’t run it out until just before it dropped. He had to settle for a single, which came back to haunt him. Ryan Mountcastle singled in the next at-bat to move O’Neill to third, but he was stranded there as the Orioles were forced to settle for one run instead of two in the inning.
Baltimore’s offense as a whole struggled to generate much momentum, with the White Sox using an opener to set up right-hander Erick Fedde as their bulk pitcher. Fedde allowed just the two runs over six innings on five hits, a walk and four strikeouts. The Orioles finished 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position on the night and left three men on base.
The other side of the ball was much more positive. The Orioles made several impressive plays on defense, including a diving catch by O’Neill, two strikeout-caught-stealing double plays turned by Rutschman, and a pair of well-fielded ground balls by Henderson and second baseman Jeremiah Jackson.
Manager Craig Albernaz went to his bullpen in the sixth inning, and there was no drama until the ninth. Tyler Wells posted two scoreless frames on a hit and a walk and Rico Garcia faced the minimum in a 1-2-3 eighth. Closer Ryan Helsley ran into trouble, walking the first two batters he faced to put the winning run in the batter’s box. But Pete Alonso made a diving play at first base to rob a potential double from White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery for the first out, an RBI groundout by pinch hitter Lenyn Sosa accounted for the second and Helsley struck out catcher Edgar Quero to close out the game for his third save of the season.
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