The Orioles beat the White Sox, as they should.
The Orioles demolished the White Sox for the second straight night, this time with a 9-0 shutout. The offense took advantage of the dismal White Sox pitching staff, getting to them for nine hits and being patient enough for a whopping nine walks.
Nine runs scored is a great night for a team, but the story wasn’t the nine but the zero. Starting pitcher Cade Povich put together the best start of his very young career, going into the eighth inning and striking out 10 batters.
Povich came into the game with a 6.58 ERA and was coming off of back-to-back bad starts against the Astros and Dodgers. Now, the obvious quip here is that the White Sox are not the Astros or Dodgers. And that’s true, but Povich still had to make his pitches tonight. And wow, did he ever.
Povich set the tone with first batter of the game. He struck out Corey Julks swinging and worked around a two-out Andrew Benintendi double to get out of the inning. He followed a long layoff in the bottom of the first with an even better second. Catcher Korey Lee reached on an error by Gunnar Henderson, but no worry. Povich smoothly picked him off for the second out, then struck out Lenyn Sosa for the third.
He followed that with a 1-2-3 third inning with another strikeout. He did get some help from the hapless White Sox as Brooks Baldwin weirdly bunted and popped it back to Povich.
The only inning in which the White Sox threatened to score on Povich was the fifth. Sosa and Jacob Amaya singled but Henderson made a nifty over-the-shoulder catch on a pop-up to end the inning.
Povich looked even stronger in the sixth and seventh innings as the White Sox went six up, six down with three strikeouts. He was helped out some by an ump show in the sixth inning that saw both the manager, Grady Sizemore, and the batter, Benintendi, ejected over bogus called strikes.
I figured Povich would be out of the game after seven, but he returned for the eighth inning. He started it with his tenth strikeout, incredible. A one-out single marked the end of his night, and what a night it was. Manager Brandon Hyde met him on the mount with a big smile and Povich exited the game to a huge ovation from the Camden Yards crowd.
What an incredible night for Cade Povich. His final pitching line: 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K. He has struggled this year and wouldn’t be in the rotation if not for the many injuries of other starting pitchers. But he showed up huge tonight and hopefully gained valuable experience and confidence going forward. He’s for sure my player of the game.
But what about those nine runs, which were also a lot of fun?
The offense jumped on White Sox pitcher Nick Nastrini right away, blasting him for three runs in the first inning. Three of the first four Orioles to bat reached base, all via double. Gunnar Henderson led off with a double and Adley Rutschman flew out.
Ryan O’Hearn then doubled in Henderson and Anthony Santander doubled in O’Hearn. Colton Cowser switched it up with an RBI single to make the score 3-0. Eloy Jiménez, facing his former team for the first time, walked on four pitches. Cedric Mullins and Jackson Holliday made the second and third outs, stranding both runners. But it was a successful inning in which Nastrini threw 36 pitches and gave up three runs on four hits and a walk.
The second inning was pure disaster for the White Sox and, frankly, was difficult to watch. This poor team.
Things didn’t start off so bad. Nastrini struck out Emmanuel Rivera, walked Henderson, and got Rutschman on a weak pop-out. He then walked the next three batters, the final being a bases-loaded walk to Cowser that pushed the score to 4-0. It was a brutal showing for Nastrini, but he almost got out of it.
Jiménez came to the plate for his second at-bat and hit a pop-up to shallow left field. Benintendi came in from left, clearly calling for the ball. But third baseman Miguel Vargas didn’t back off and the two collided. The ball fell in and all three runners scored. Vargas’s face appeared to crash into Benintendi’s elbow and he hit the ground. He stayed in the game at first but came out later in the inning.
Shaken, Nastrini walked Mullins before being mercifully pulled from the game. His replacement, Jared Shuster, got Holliday to fly out to end the inning. Nastrini’s final line: 1.2 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 2 K. Woof.
After those two big innings, the Orioles bats quieted down somewhat. They had another mini-rally in the fourth inning that started with another Cowser walk. Jiménez grounded a ball back to the pitcher, but Shuster threw it into Eloy’s helmet as he crossed first base resulting in an infield single. Jiménez looked hurt for a minute but he shook it off and stayed in the game. Mullins followed with an RBI single.
The Orioles’ final run of the game came in the next inning. Henderson walked yet again and Rutschman lined a single to right field that moved Gunnar to third. After O’Hearn walked, Anthony Santander hit a long fly ball to left field. Henderson scored from third to make the score 9-0.
And with that, the Orioles’ offense rested. It was more than enough for Povich and his relief corps of Burch Smith and Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel, as expected, had a bit of a bumpy time. He gave up a single and a walk, but a nice diving catch from defensive replacement Austin Slater ended the game to preserve the shutout.
Orioles win, 9-0! The series finale between these teams is tomorrow at 6:35. Albert Suárez is scheduled to pitch for the Orioles against Jonathan Cannon of the White Sox as the Orioles go for the sweep.