Gonzalez, Orioles send White Sox to 7th straight loss
By Brad Rowland
The Chicago White Sox can’t catch a break.
The team entered Thursday night’s game with the Orioles on a 6-game losing streak, but “fortunately, they encountered a slumping Baltimore unit that had lost 6 of their past 9 games. However, they ran into a buzzsaw in the form of Miguel Gonzalez.
Gonzalez threw 7 innings of shut-down ball, allowing only 1 run on 4 hits, and led the Orioles to a decisive, 3-1 victory over Chicago. The 29-year-old right-hander needed exactly 100 pitches to complete 7 frames (and lower his ERA below the 4.00-mark), but it was more than enough, thanks to a home run barrage from the Orioles offense.
All three Baltimore runs came via the long ball, and the trio of players who provided the fireworks wasn’t terribly shocking. Adam Jones and JJ Hardy blasted their 30th and 25th home runs of the season, respectively, and veteran Brian Roberts finished off the scoring with his 4th blast of the year. The Baltimore offense has been dependent on the long ball at times this year, but when you can account for 3 in the same game, all is right with the world.
With the win, the Orioles move to within 3.5 games of the final Wild Card spot in the American League, and they are alive and breathing. On the other side of the field, however, the White Sox are left licking their wounds yet again, during the definition of a lost season.