“That was a pretty good pitch for him, especially now that he’s showing not only the ability to throw it for strikes, but to throw it below the zone”, catcher Tyler Flowers said.
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Jonathan Schoop homered in his first at-bat since coming off the disabled list and Miguel Gonzalez threw six solid innings as the Baltimore Orioles routed the Chicago White Sox 9-1 on Sunday.
The Sox called up Sanchez when fellow youngster Micah Johnson pretty much butchered his way out of the second-base job with shoddy glove work. Shuck pushed across Gordon Beckham, who had drawn a leadoff walk, with a one-out double to right.
“That’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a little while now, after a couple starts”, Rodon said of going deep into games. “I was just overjoyed to see him catch that ball and come back with it. It was awesome”.
Ventura, however, made it clear that having a player hitting so far below the Mendoza Line in the lineup is far from ideal. The next batter up was Caleb Joseph, who worked the count to 3-2 before fouling off a few pitches. Abreu hit an 0-2 pitch from Jimenez for his 14th home run of the season in the third inning. He didn’t allow a hit until a single to center with two outs in the sixth by second baseman Ryan Flaherty and struck out six to that point, including all three he faced in the third.
John Danks had his last turn skipped in the White Sox rotation and knew he had to pitch better to help dig his team out of the first-half hole in which they’re now mired.
Norris pitched with a lot of chutzpah, and maybe some of it was rooted in an I’ll-show-you mentality after his relegation to the bullpen. The White Sox have won eight of 12 after losing a season-high eight straight games, while Baltimore has dropped five of six to fall two games behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
The previous week started well enough for the Orioles as they shutout the Cleveland Indians twice in sweeping a doubleheader last Sunday at Camden Yards.
Abreu led off the fifth with a triple and scored on Cabrera’s sacrifice fly.
Obviously this was a great game for Jonathan Schoop, but it also gave us our first glimpse of the Orioles’ infield with Machado, Hardy, and Schoop together. The Orioles are 35-18 when they hit at least one homer. “But it was a walk, apparently”, Samardzija said.
Orioles RHP Kevin Gausman (1-0, 3.09 ERA) will remain in the rotation and start Tuesday against Minnesota. His season ERA spiked to 5.38, the eighth-worst mark for a qualified starting pitcher entering Friday. How so? Bryant only had 6 RBI’s in his first two at-bats, including a grand slam and a 2-run shot that put the game out of reach before it really began. Jenks confirmed he has retired after battling back issues and last pitching in the majors in 2011.
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Zach Putnam came on in relief, and he gave up a two-run homer to Manny Machado that tied the game.
