White Sox belt three homers, avoid sweep in Baltimore
White Sox right fielder Oscar Colas runs to the dugout hitting a two-run home run off Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Kyle Gibson during the second inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, in Baltimore. (AP)
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BALTIMORE — It wasn’t pretty and it looked like an Orioles win for a sweep from the get-go, but the White Sox and Dylan Cease recovered from a defensively shabby first inning that sunk them into a four-run hole and came away with a 10-5 victory Wednesday at Camden Yards.
Andrew Vaughn and Oscar Colas each clubbed two-run homers and Luis Robert Jr. hit his 35th, becoming the 14th Sox (24th time) to hit 35 homers in a season. Frank Thomas did it seven times. Orioles starter Kyle Gibson (13-8) served up all three homers.
Vaughn hit his 17th homer and Colas his fourth.
Dylan Cease (6-7, 4.91 ERA) survived a shaky first inning and threw 109 pitches to complete a six-inning outing, allowing five runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out seven batters, touching 97.8 mph with his fastball and getting 19 swings and misses.
Third baseman Elvis Andrus, Vaughn and Robert each had two hits and Vaughn also doubled and drove in three runs. The Sox (53-82) handed the Orioles (83-50) just their ninth loss in August. The Sox were outscored 18-3 in the first two games of the series.
Who’s in charge
While the hire or hires to replace Ken Williams and Rick Hahn await, communication with assistant general managers Chris Getz and assistant GM Jeremy Haber has been “really good,” Grifol said.
“Jeremy is here [in Baltimore]. Chris is back home. Spoke to Chris this morning, spoke to Jeremy today,” Grifol said.
“[Chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] made it clear Chris and Jeremy and myself would do things until he makes a decision. Hasn’t made a decision yet so we’re just continuing to be led by Chris and Jeremy until something happens.”
Getz is the leading candidate to be named general manager.