Charlie Morton threw 6 2/3 strong innings in another encouraging performance from the mound as the Baltimore Orioles completed a three-game sweep of the visiting Chicago White Sox, winning 3-2 on Sunday afternoon.
Morton (2-7) has won consecutive starts since returning to the starting rotation. Gunnar Henderson and Ramon Urias both had two hits for Baltimore.
The Orioles have won six of their last eight games, including three straight against the only American League team with a worse record than their mark. Baltimore completed a 4-2 homestand.
Mike Tauchman tripled and homered for the White Sox. Teammates Chase Meidroth and Andrew Benintendi also had two hits apiece.
Morton, a veteran right-hander, allowed an unearned run, six hits and a walk while striking out seven in his second consecutive sterling outing after a spring that had been tarnished by rough performances. He threw 100 pitches.
Then Gregory Soto entered the game and surrendered a home run to Tauchman — the first batter he faced. Andrew Kittredge and Bryan Baker, who notched his first save, finished out of the Baltimore bullpen.
White Sox starter Adrian Houser (1-1) took the loss, lasting 6 1/3 innings and charged with three runs on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
The Orioles scored first on Urias’ single in the third inning. But then with the bases loaded and no outs later in the inning, all they managed was Ryan O’Hearn’s sacrifice fly before Houser escaped further problems with a pair of strikeouts.
Baltimore’s Heston Kjerstad tripled with one in the fourth, but he was picked off to thwart that threat.
Chicago got a triple in the next inning from Tauchman, but it came with two outs and the White Sox didn’t convert.
Benintendi led off the Chicago sixth with a single and moved to second on a balk. He scored on a one-out error on Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday.
Dylan Carlson doubled in a run in the sixth for a 3-1 lead.
Tauchman’s home run was his second long ball of the season.
–Field Level Media
