CHICAGO—For the second day in a row, catcher Adley Rutschman had the big hit for the Orioles. On Thursday, his ninth-inning home run won the game for the Orioles. A night later, his seventh-inning double keyed the Orioles’ comeback win.
For the first six innings, the Orioles were held scoreless on one hit and five walks by Mike Clevinger. In the seventh, they finally broke through and scored four runs to defeat the Chicago White Sox, 6-3, before an announced crowd of 18.941 at Guaranteed Rate Park on Friday night.
Gunnar Henderson began the seventh with a walk, and Jorge Mateo walked with one out. With two outs, Terrin Vavra reached on an infield single against Reynaldo López (0-1). Cedric Mullins drew the Orioles’ eighth walk of the game, scoring Henderson.
Rutschman doubled to left-center to score Mateo, Vavra and Mullins, and the Orioles (8-6) had a 4-3 lead.
“Adley is Superman right now,” starting pitcher Tyler Wells said. “He’s done such a great job behind the plate, at the plate, as a hitter. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
Rutschman grinned when told of Wells’ compliment.
“I don’t know about Superman,” Rutschman said. “He’s like the biggest hype man that you’ll ever meet. Great supporting guy, and you can tell from that comment that he’s an awesome teammate.”
Wells allowed Jake Burger’s second home run in the second inning, and allowed just one more baserunner until the sixth when Elvis Andrus led off with a double. He scored on a single by Andrew Benintendi. Two batters later, an RBI single by Eloy Jimenez chased Wells.
Reliever Mike Baumann (1-0) recorded two outs in the sixth, and after Cionel Pérez left with runners on first and second and one out in the seventh, Yennier Cano, who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk when Keegan Akin went on the paternity list, delivered clutch relief. Luis Robert hit a smash back to Cano, who threw to Vavra at second to force Benintendi, and the relay to first was in time for the double play.
“That was awesome,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “The Cano show today. It’s a tough spot in the middle of the order, two right-handed hitters. He’s got such a heavy, really good sinker. Last year, he struggled throwing strikes up here. He’s been throwing strikes in spring training and Norfolk.
“That’s huge for us right now, to have a guy that can get right-handers to hit the ball on the ground the way he did and do a great job in the next inning.”
The Orioles scored two runs in the eighth on two-out doubles by Austin Hays, Mateo and Ryan O’Hearn to lead 6-3.
Cano pitched a spotless eighth, and Félix Bautista struck out the side in the ninth for his fourth save.
“He looked really good tonight. His stuff was electric,” Rutschman said. “It was fun seeing him do his thing tonight and coming out with all the confidence in the world.”
Wells and Cano knew each other in the Minnesota Twins’ organization, and Wells was happy to see him get a big chance.
“It’s great to see him go out there and get into such a big spot and succeed,” Wells said.
Note: Kyle Gibson (3-0, 3.44) will face Michael Kopech (0-2, 6.75) on Saturday at 2:10 p.m. … Bautista pitched in consecutive games for the first time this season.
Minor league update: Kyle Bradish allowed four runs, three earned, on four hits in five innings in his first rehab assignment. Bradish allowed the four runs in the fourth inning. He struck out five and walked one in 82 pitches as Double-A Bowie lost to Akron, 7-5.
Designated hitter Heston Kjerstad hit his fourth home run. Leftfielder John Rhodes drove in three runs. Centerfielder Zach Watson also homered.
Shortstop Joey Ortiz had three hits and centerfielder Daz Cameron hit a two-run home run as Triple-A Norfolk beat Nashville, 6-1. The Tides scored four runs in the ninth. Noah Denoyer pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits.
Centerfielder Dylan Beavers had two hits as High-A Aberdeen lost to Hudson Valley, 4-1.
Catcher Randy Fiorentino had three hits and drove in two runs in Single-A Delmarva’s 14-4 loss to Kannapolis.
Call for questions: I’ll be answering Orioles questions next week. Please email them to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com