Orioles beat White Sox 4-0, complete sweep
BALTIMORE - Pitching for the first time in the big leagues since last October, Chris Tillman began his long-awaited appearance by throwing 7 straight pitches outside the strike zone.
Once he finally found his groove, the Orioles right-hander powered through the White Sox lineup over 5 innings in a 4-0 victory Sunday that provided Baltimore with a three-game sweep.
Sidelined since March with right shoulder bursitis, Tillman came off the disabled list to join an unstable rotation in need of another arm. After walking the first 2 batters and working out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, Tillman bounced back nicely in his first appearance since the 2016 AL wild-card game.
"It was a real testament to his pitchability," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said, "searching for something he could survive with early where he could get in step a little bit."
Tillman (1-0) gave up 3 singles, walked 3 and struck out 4. He was lifted after throwing 93 pitches, but not before proving he's still got the stuff that enabled him to go 16-6 last season.
Especially after that wild start.
"I feel like all those first seven pitches were the same mistakes," Tillman said. "It's kind of an easy adjustment because I wasn't all over the place. I was making the same mistake over and over."
It's a start, one he hopes to build upon.
"Every start the rest of the way is going to be a hurdle," he said.
Alec Asher followed Tillman, and Brad Brach got 2 outs for his seventh save.
Trey Mancini had 3 hits and drove in a run for the Orioles, who took an early 4-0 lead against Jose Quintana (2-5) and coasted to their fourth straight victory.
Baltimore finished its first three-game home sweep of the White Sox in 18 years and improved to 20-10 for the first time since 2005.
"They were able to put some runs on the board," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "They were able to minimize things on the opposite side with pitching."
Quintana allowed 4 runs and 9 hits in 5 innings. He issued 2 walks, 2 singles and 2 runs in the first inning, then gave up 2 runs and 4 hits in the second.
The lefty was 2-0 with an 0.64 ERA in his previous two starts, both against Kansas City.
"I tried to get quick outs to stay in the game a little longer," Quintana said. "It was a tough day for me."
Yolmer Sanchez had 3 hits for the White Sox, who were swept for the first time this season. Renteria was thrown from the game in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes with umpire Paul Emmel.
"He ejected me. That's all I can say," Renteria said.
Chris Davis hit a sacrifice fly and Mancini added a run-scoring single in the first.
Manny Machado and Adam Jones hit opposite-field, bloop RBI singles in the second to complete the scoring.