Wins have been hard to come by this season for the Chicago White Sox. At least they’ll get some extra time to enjoy this one.
Jonathan Cannon pitched into the sixth inning, and Nicky Lopez, Andrew Vaughn, and Dominic Fletcher each hit a home run for Chicago, which ended a 12-game losing streak with an 8-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. The White Sox have 109 losses this season, but they avoided getting closer to the modern big league record of 120 losses.
And they have Thursday off.
“It’s been hard to come by, so we’ll enjoy it and be ready for Friday,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said.
This year, the White Sox have had three losing streaks of at least 12 games, which is unprecedented in recent history. They lost the first two games of this series at Camden Yards by a combined score of 22-3. Tuesday’s 9-0 loss included two ejections, a pair of missed popups, and a five-walk inning by Chicago’s starting pitcher.
If that was a low point, the White Sox seemed like a different team on Wednesday.
“I think this was a night where it came together,” Sizemore said. “It was nice to get some balls falling in, get good pitching, and then just clean defense. That’s the way we want to play. It shows those guys how they can do it.”
Lopez started the game with a home run, and Vaughn and Fletcher hit home runs during a three-run fourth inning.
It was Lopez’s first home run of the season.
“Kind of crazy, huh?” Lopez said. “I don’t hit them often, so when I do it’s obviously a good feeling. That’s not the type of player I am, so I’m not going up there to hit them.”
The White Sox hadn’t won a game since August 21, and they had a day off after that win. They then lost twelve games in a row before finally getting their next win.
