Late homer snaps Sox streak
BALTIMORE — Nate McLouth hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning, Lew Ford also connected and the Baltimore Orioles rallied to beat the White Sox 4-3 on Monday night, ending the visiting team's six-game winning streak.
It was the franchise-record 13th consecutive one-run win for the Orioles, who trailed 2-1 in the sixth and 3-2 in the eighth.
After the White Sox went up 3-2 in the eighth against Pedro Strop (5-2) on a run-scoring infield single by Adam Dunn, Baltimore answered in the bottom half against Brett Myers (2-2).
Mark Reynolds drew a one-out walk and McLouth drove a 1-0 pitch far over the wall in right-center. It was his third RBI of the game and second home run since the Orioles purchased his contract from Triple-A Norfolk on Aug. 4.
Earlier, Ford hit his first major league homer since July 29, 2007, with Minnesota against Cleveland. After that season, Ford didn't return to the majors until being summoned by the Orioles in late July.
Jim Johnson pitched the ninth for his 40th save in 43 opportunities.
Facing the Orioles for the first time with Chicago after tormenting them as a member of the Boston Red Sox, Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning and singled in the eighth to set up Dunn's RBI hit. Youkilis has a lifetime .322 batting average against Baltimore, with 23 homers and 87 RBIs.
The duel between the first-place White Sox and the surprising Orioles, who are in the midst of the AL wild-card race, attracted a meager crowd of 10,955 on a clear night at Camden Yards.
Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen gave up two runs, one earned, and four hits in six innings. He struck out eight, including A.J. Pierzynski three times.
Down 1-0, the Sox took the lead in sixth. After Chen dropped a throw to first base for an error, Youkilis hit the next pitch into the seats in left.
Baltimore pulled even in the bottom half. A walk to Matt Wieters and a single by Ford put runners at the corners with no outs and prompted White Sox manager Robin Ventura to replace starter Francisco Liriano with Jesse Crain, who walked Reynolds and McLouth to force in a run. Crain then got Manny Machado to hit into a force at the plate, struck out Robert Andino and retired Nick Markakis on a slow roller to shortstop.
It was another missed opportunity for the Orioles, who had several in the early going.
In the first inning, Markakis was tagged out by Liriano while trying to score from third on a pitch that bounced away from Pierzynski and rolled to the right of the plate.
After Ford hit an opposite-field drive to right leading off the second, the Orioles loaded the bases with one out before Markakis lined into a double play.
From that point, Baltimore didn't get a runner past first base until the sixth.