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GM Hahn looking for consistency from White Sox

In a phone interview before Tuesday night's game at Baltimore, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn wasn't trashing his players or coaching staff for losing five straight and falling a season-high seven games under .500.

Truth be told, Hahn said he expected a slide at some point of the season.

"Obviously, we're in a rough stretch," he said. "Taking a larger-term view of this thing, it was probably going to happen; we were going to have ourselves a lousy 10-game stretch at some point. The key, obviously, is pulling out of it as quickly as possible and hopefully showing a little more consistency."

It wasn't easy by any means, but the Sox finally broke their losing streak Tuesday, beating the Orioles 4-2.

Leading 4-1 in the ninth inning thanks to a solid start from Jose Quintana, Gordon Beckham's solo home run and RBI singles from Alejandro De Aza and Tyler Flowers, the White Sox appeared to be in good shape.

But they were in a similar spot in Monday night's series opener, leading 4-2 before the Orioles scored 1 run off reliever Zach Putnam in the eighth inning before Chris Davis hit a game-ending 3-run homer off closer Ronald Belisario in the ninth.

Belisario was right back in the fire Tuesday.

Scott Downs was on the mound to open the ninth inning and was lifted for Belisario after yielding a single to Davis. Belisario got J.J. Hardy to hit into a fielder's choice groundout that erased Davis at second base, but Manny Machado singled and pinch hitter Delmon Young followed with another single to make it 4-2.

Belisario worked out of the jam by getting pinch hitter Ryan Flaherty to ground into a double play.

The Sox were competitive at Minnesota to open the road trip, but they lost all four games of the series. And they couldn't hold off Baltimore on Monday night.

With Tuesday's win, Hahn is hoping the White Sox start streaking in the preferred direction.

"We had a very good series against San Francisco, a real good series out in L.A. (against the Dodgers); we did well against Detroit at home," Hahn said. "But each time we've followed those up with disappointing series, against Anaheim, Kansas City and then Minnesota.

"It's a matter of getting ourselves to a point where we're performing consistently night in and night out and putting ourselves in the best position to win."

• Class AAA Charlotte second baseman Micah Johnson and A Winston-Salem starter Francellis Montas have been selected to compete in the All-Star Futures Game on July 13 at Target Field in Minnesota.

Johnson is batting a combined .308 with 4 home runs, 23 RBI, 30 runs scored and 14 stolen bases in 61 games with AA Birmingham and Charlotte.

Over his last six games at Triple-A, Johnson is 12-for-26.

Acquired from the Boston Red Sox last July in the Jake Peavy trade, Montas is 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA at Winston-Salem.

sgregor@dailyherald.com

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