Orioles Tag Shane Smith For Six Runs, White Sox Comeback Falls Short In 8-7 Loss

CHICAGO –– The Orioles appeared to be cruising to a series victory as they entered the bottom of the eighth inning with a six-run lead.

They controlled the vast majority of the game, scoring two runs in four separate innings and holding the White Sox scoreless from the second through seventh innings. But the White Sox have shown notable resiliency this season –– most recently rattling off six straight comeback wins from Aug. 31 to Sept. 5 –– and that trait showed up again Tuesday night at Rate Field.

After a run scored on a wild pitch, Lenyn Sosa cut the deficit to three runs with a two-RBI single. In the next at-bat, Andrew Benintendi blasted a two-run home run to center field, just past the outstretched arm of Baltimore center fielder Colton Cowser's robbery attempt. That tied Benintendi's career-high of 20 home runs, something a White Sox primary left fielder hasn't done since Carlos Quentin in 2008-09.

All of a sudden, a six-run Orioles lead had been trimmed to just one. The White Sox had a chance to complete a miraculous comeback with a pinch-hitter in Curtis Mead, followed by leadoff hitter Chase Meidroth, the team's OPS leader in Kyle Teel and rookie slugger Colson Montgomery, whose 18 home runs are the most by a primary shortstop in MLB history over his first 60 career games.

Meidroth reached first on single, but Teel and Montgomery struck out to end all hope of a comeback bid. With an 8-7 loss, the White Sox losing streak increased to five games, and the Orioles will go for the sweep Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. CT.

"All these experiences are ones that they can learn from and are going to grow from," White Sox manager Will Venable said. "We’ve seen them come through in a number of spots and they have been challenged before. Each one of these experiences is going to help them grow."

Teel's two-run home run in the first inning represented the White Sox only runs until the eighth. In his first at-bat, he had a two-strike approach and wasn't trying to do too much. But in the ninth, he chased a fastball out of the zone for strike two and whiffed at a fastball in the zone for the strikeout.

Teel acknowledged it can serve as a learning experience, but he's going to flush it and move on to Wednesday's game.

"Trying to do too much. I wanted to end the ballgame right there," Teel said. "But you know, I swung at a bad pitch and that was it. ...  There's a lot of fight in this ball club. We didn't get the results we want, but we got another game to focus on tomorrow and that's what it's about."

Montgomery followed Teel with a strikeout to end the game, which extended a rough patch for the rookie shortstop. Over his last 10 games, Montgomery is 4-for-31 with 19 strikeouts.

"Just some swing and miss in the zone. He’s making ok swing decisions," Venable said. "Early in the count there, just some swing and miss in the zone. He’s working on his move a little bit to clean it up and he’s not far away."

White Sox starter Shane Smith began his outing strong, striking out four batters and holding the Orioles scoreless through two innings. Venable thought Smith's fastball played well on Tuesday, but he got into trouble a few times with his curveball.

Jeremiah Jackson drove in the Orioles' first run of the game, singling an 0-2 curveball to left field. In the fourth, Samuel Basallo gave Baltimore a 4-2 lead as he swatted Smith's curveball 420 to right field for a two-run home run.

Exiting after 4.1 innings, he allowed a career-high nine hits and tied his career-high with six earned runs. He also struck out seven batters for the fourth time this season, one shy of his career-high of eight.

Smith said making the same mistake twice is unacceptable, and that's why Tuesday's outing stings even more.

"I think Jackson’s [curveball] was very poorly executed," Smith said. "I think it could be some sequencing to Basallo, maybe if I throw a better pitch he doesn’t hit it for a homer. Maybe, it’s the wrong pitch."