Orioles keep White Sox at arm's length in 4-2 win, take series

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on May 31, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BALTIMORE — The Orioles got their hands dirty with a benches-clearing incident in the fourth inning of what was otherwise a clean 4-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, clinching just their fourth series victory of the season and putting them in position to earn their first sweep.

Jackson Holliday put the Orioles (21-36) ahead in their first at-bat of the game with a leadoff home run, Dean Kremer worked six impressive innings of one-run ball and the rest of the offense tacked on enough insurance runs to distance themselves from the lowly White Sox (18-40) enough for the bullpen to close it out. Baltimore has won six of its past 10 games for the club’s best 10-game stretch at any point this season.

Coby Mayo was the source of the on-field delay, collecting his first career RBI with a single that scored Ryan O’Hearn before getting into a rundown and colliding with White Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa with his arm outstretched in an apparent effort to draw an interference call. Mayo and Sosa exchanged words and shoves to prompt both benches and bullpens to empty, though the situation quickly deescalated and no one was ejected from the game.

Holliday’s blast, the first career leadoff home run for the 21-year-old, coupled with Mayo’s run-scoring single provided Kremer with all the run support he would need to put himself in line for the win. The right-hander scattered six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts, feeding the White Sox a balanced diet as he used all six of the pitches in his arsenal.

It wasn’t until the fifth when Chicago finally managed to scrape a run across against him with an RBI single by designated hitter Andrew Benintendi, but he went back out for the fifth to finish off the quality start with a season-high pitch count of 102. The Orioles’ offense responded in the bottom half of the frame as well when center fielder Jorge Mateo crushed a two-run home run for his first long ball of the year.

The White Sox trimmed the Orioles’ lead to two runs with an RBI single by right fielder Mike Tauchman off Yennier Cano but their offense stalled from there as Keegan Akin, Seranthony Domínguez and Félix Bautista combined to 2 2/3 scoreless frames.

Bautista, who has struggled lately, pitched for the second straight day in just his second back-to-back outings since returning from Tommy John elbow surgery. He worked around a pair of walks to convert his 10th save of the season, tied for the eighth most in the American League.

Instant analysis

Over their past 10 games, the Orioles have gotten eight starts with three or fewer allowed out of their rotation.

It hasn’t always been pretty and the two exceptions — five-run outings by Cade Povich and Zach Eflin — both resulted in losses, but starting pitching has been perhaps the biggest driver behind their ongoing 6-4 stretch. Kremer put up 2.72 ERA in May, Tomoyuki Sugano remained a force, Eflin dominated the White Sox on Friday and Charlie Morton put together his best and longest start of the year Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Trevor Rogers was brilliant in his spot start May 24 and could be an option for the club in the coming weeks.

Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, Albert Suárez and Tyler Wells are all still a ways away from returning from their respective injuries, but the Orioles finally have a group of starters putting them in position to win baseball games on a nightly basis.

On deck

The Orioles have won the series and will look to complete their first sweep of the year Sunday when Morton takes the ball hoping to build off a promising quality start his last time out. The veteran right-hander will have to outduel White Sox right-hander Adrian Houser, who has yet to allow a run two starts into his campaign.

____