Little help for Sale in White Sox loss

It's not easy beating the White Sox when Chris Sale's on the mound.

Behind some solid pitching from starter Bud Norris, a remarkable catch by right fielder Nick Markakis and continued dreadful relief pitching by the home club, the Orioles beat Sale and the Sox 8-2 Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field.

Sale wasn't at his best, lasting just 6 innings and allowing 3 runs on 8 hits while walking 2 and striking out 8.

The left-hander exited trailing 3-0, but the White Sox finally got to Norris in the seventh.

Norris hit Alejandro De Aza with a pitch leading off the inning and Alexei Ramirez followed with a double.

After Jose Abreu lined out and Adam Dunn struck out, Avisail Garcia went opposite field again, and De Aza and Ramirez both came home on his single to right field.

That brought Conor Gillaspie to the plate, and he appeared to give the Sox a 4-3 lead with a deep drive to right.

Markakis ran the ball down and leapt over the fence to rob Gillaspie of a 2-run homer.

It was still a close game at that point, but Sox relievers Ronald Belisario (6.11 ERA), Eric Surkamp (6.91 ERA) and Matt Lindstrom (5.57) combined to yield 5 runs on 4 hits, 1 walk and a hit batter in the eighth inning.

Since coming off the disabled list on Saturday, Garcia is 4-for-10 with 3 RBI. Garcia injured his left shoulder attempting to make a diving catch during an April 9 game at Colorado and had surgery to repair a torn labrum.

He was initially expected to miss the season, but the 23-year-old right fielder made a rapid recovery.

"(Garcia) makes it a better lineup when he's in there," manager Robin Ventura said. "It's probably still too early to really see how he's going to affect that, but it is going to affect guys. It makes our lineup deeper, it's a little more potent further down the line when he's in there."