In Baltimore, Jackson Holliday achieved his first career leadoff home run as the Baltimore Orioles triumphed over the Chicago White Sox with a score of 4-2 on Saturday. Jorge Mateo also contributed with his first homer of the season.
Dean Kremer delivered an impressive performance, giving up just one run over six innings, marking his second consecutive victory for Baltimore. With this win, the Orioles have emerged victorious in five of their last seven games, marking a significant achievement for the season. Moreover, the Orioles secured their third home series triumph and their first since defeating the New York Yankees at the end of April.
Félix Bautista played a crucial role, earning his 10th save out of 11 opportunities with a scoreless ninth inning.
On the other side, the White Sox, now with a record of 18-40, have struggled on the road, dropping to 6-25 away from home, and reaching a season-low of 22 games under .500.
After giving up Holliday’s first-inning homer, Chicago’s starting pitcher Davis Martin, despite a challenging start, managed to keep Baltimore from further hits until the fourth inning, when Ryan O’Hearn broke the streak with a double. Two batters later, Coby Mayo, making his major league debut, hit an RBI single.
A notable moment occurred during Mayo’s play. After rounding first base, he found himself caught in a rundown and collided with second baseman Lenyn Sosa. This resulted in players from both teams rushing onto the field, but tensions soon cooled with no further incidents.
Later, in the fifth inning, Dylan Carlson’s one-out double set the stage for Mateo, who launched a fly ball over the center field fence, recording his first homer since June 21 of the previous year.
The White Sox managed to add some runs with Andrew Benintendi’s RBI single against Kremer in the fifth and another by Mike Tauchman in the seventh inning.
Kremer ended his day having allowed six hits and securing seven strikeouts. He’s now 2-0 with an impressive 1.02 ERA in three career games against the White Sox. Meanwhile, Martin finished allowing four runs over six innings and struck out six batters.
A key moment came in the ninth inning when Bautista managed to strike out both Luis Robert Jr. and Austin Slater, thwarting the White Sox’s attempt with two runners on base.
An important stat to note is that Bautista achieved saves on back-to-back days for the first time since July 2023. The right-hander had previously missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery.
In the upcoming series finale, Chicago will send right-hander Adrian Houser, who has yet to allow a run in 12 innings since joining in May, to face Baltimore’s right-hander Charlie Morton.