Orioles blast 3 home runs in 8th inning to rally past White Sox, 5-3, for third straight win
CHICAGO — It took eight innings, but the Orioles’ offense woke up in a hurry Saturday with three home runs against the Chicago White Sox bullpen to spark a 5-3 comeback win.
Ryan O’Hearn and Anthony Santander each hit two-run homers to erase a 3-0 deficit and Jordan Westburg added a solo shot, shaking off a quiet afternoon for the Orioles’ bats. After plating 14 runs over the first two games of the series, the Orioles’ top six hitters in their lineup combined to go 0-for-16 with four walks before O’Hearn got the home run parade started.
Baltimore (31-18) had no answers for White Sox starter Erick Fedde early. The reigning Most Valuable Player of the Korean Baseball Organization and former Washington Nationals starter pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings to lower his career ERA against the Orioles to 0.39 in 23 2/3 innings. He held the Orioles to three hits with three walks and six strikeouts on 103 pitches, never allowing a runner to advance past second base.
Albert Suárez got the start for the Orioles in place of Dean Kremer, who was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday with a triceps strain. The veteran right-hander wasn’t fully built up for a starter’s workload after making his past seven appearances out of the bullpen, but he still pitched four scoreless innings, serving up only two hits and two walks with three strikeouts on 80 pitches.
Without any runs on the board for most of the game, it only took one bad inning for the Orioles to surrender a lead. That inning proved to be the fifth, when Keegan Akin loaded the bases on two walks and a single before Gilman graduate Gavin Sheets brought them all home with a triple to right-center.
Akin was a revelation for Baltimore for most of this season but has struggled, particularly against left-handed hitters, his past two outings after giving up the game-winning home run to the St. Louis Cardinals’ Nolan Gorman in the completion of a suspended game Wednesday. Manager Brandon Hyde stretched Akin into the seventh but had to go back to the bullpen for Dillon Tate after Akin allowed two runners to reach.
Tate, who was recalled Friday, had not pitched for the Orioles since April 28. He stranded his two inherited runners and retired the side in order in both the seventh and eighth innings to earn the win. Tate threw 18 of 22 pitches for strikes and didn’t allow a single hit or walk, striking out four.
His performance allowed the Orioles time to find some momentum, and they did so in dramatic fashion. With Fedde out of the game, setup man Jordan Leasure allowed a one-out walk to Adley Rutschman before O’Hearn battled through an eight-pitch at-bat that included five foul balls. The ball he did finally put in play was a line drive over the wall in right-center.
Ryan Mountcastle followed with a single and Santander hit his ninth home run of the season to nearly the same spot to give the Orioles the lead. Westburg, who went 3-for-4 batting seventh, also went deep to right-center for a solo homer to complete a five-run eighth inning. It was the first time the Orioles have hit three home runs in an inning since June 1, 2022, against the Seattle Mariners.
With closer Craig Kimbrel having pitched back-to-back games, Cionel Pérez entered the game in the ninth to protect the two-run lead and retired the White Sox in order for his first save of the season. The win clinched a series victory for Baltimore, which will go for the sweep Sunday with Kyle Bradish on the mound facing Garrett Crochet.
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