Orioles Beat White Sox in 10 innings
Seven games ago, the Baltimore hired Buck Showalter to take over from Juan Samuel as manager, and the Birds have been almost perfect since, going 6-1 in that time. Timing was also good for Brian Roberts, the Orioles second baseman, who hit his first home run of the season to give his team the win in the 10th inning off a 1-0 pitch by JJ Putz, who took the loss (5-3).
The Orioles had the worst record in the majors when Showalter took over and the White Sox, who are smack in the middle of a playoff race with the Minnesota Twins, must have been l*****g their chops a couple of weeks ago at the prospect of beating up on the lowly Orioles for four games and extending their division lead. Not anymore, not after losing three games in the series.
“This team is playing well,” Chicago’s Juan Pierre said of the Orioles. “You hope to not run into these teams at this point. They got a bunch of young guys and a new manager. They play hard. We didn’t play our best baseball. We had opportunities. But I don’t think anybody wants to play that team right now, the way they’re playing.”
Roberts, a two-time All-Star, returned from the disabled list three weeks ago after missing a couple of months and wasn’t thinking home run when he lead off the bottom of the 10th inning. “At that time in the game I was trying to figure out whether to take a strike or not. But you’re pretty sure you’re going to get a heater at that point at 1-0 leading off the inning.” That’s what Putz gave him, and the switch hitter pulled it to deep right.
Chicago Manager, Ozzie Guillen is not panicking despite his team falling back into a tie for the lead in the American League Central division. “I’m not concerned. We have a team that can hit, but the last four days we’ve been very quiet offensively.” By quiet he means they scored a combined 10 runs in the four-game series, in which the White Sox lost three of the games by a single run.
Paul Konerko did connect in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 2-2. It was his 28th home run of the season, tying his 2009 total. That shot made up for an earlier mental lapse that allowed Baltimore to take a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning.
Tied at the top of the division, the White Sox and Twins will open a three-game series in Chicago on Tuesday night.
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