Anthony Santander hit a go-ahead, three-run double in the seventh inning and was among six Baltimore players with two hits to boost the host Baltimore Orioles to a 9-3 win against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
Baltimore won for the ninth time in 11 games. The American League East-leading Orioles maintained a 2 1/2-game division lead over the Tampa Bay Rays, who won at Miami on Tuesday.
Santander broke things open in the seventh, lining a bases-clearing double down the right field line on a 2-2 pitch from Chicago reliever Aaron Bummer to snap a 1-all tie.
Bummer (4-3) struck out the first batter he faced before yielding a single to Ryan McKenna and walking Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson — the first free passes issued by either team in the game.
Santander finished with four RBIs, while McKenna had two hits and two RBIs. Ryan Mountcastle, Austin Hays, Ramon Urias and Rutschman added two hits apiece. Baltimore led 9-1 before Chicago’s Andrew Vaughn (single) and Oscar Colas (groundout) drove in runs in the ninth.
Both offenses needed time to come untracked. Baltimore starter Dean Kremer retired the first seven White Sox he faced, while Chicago counterpart Jesse Scholtens set down the first nine Orioles in order.
Chicago opened the scoring with one out in the third, as Lenyn Sosa blasted a solo home run to center field. It was Sosa’s fifth home run of the season and fourth since Aug. 20.
Adam Frazier grounded a run-scoring single to right to tie the game in the fifth.
Scholtens allowed one run and six hits in 5 1/3 innings, with one strikeout.
Kremer allowed one run and six hits in six-plus innings while striking out five. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde removed Kremer after he allowed back-to-back singles to start the seventh, but Danny Coulombe escaped trouble by retiring the next three hitters.
After Colas popped out on a sacrifice bunt attempt, Sosa tried to bunt for a hit, but failed, and Korey Lee grounded out.
Sosa had three hits for Chicago, while Luis Robert Jr., Yoan Moncada and Vaughn each had two.
Coulombe (4-1) was the winner, delivering 1 2/3 innings of perfect relief.
–Field Level Media