Author: Ritik

Gunnar Henderson matched a franchise record for shortstops with his 34th home run, and the Baltimore Orioles crushed the Chicago White Sox 13-3 on Monday, extending Chicago’s losing streak to 11 games.

Chicago fell to a 31-108 record and has now lost 20 straight games started by Chris Flexen (2-14), setting a major league record for the most consecutive losses by a pitcher, surpassing the previous mark held by Milwaukee’s Chris Capuano.

Cedric Mullins hit a home run and had three RBIs, while Austin Slater and Henderson each drove in three runs for Baltimore. The Orioles came back from a 2-0 deficit and began a six-game homestand, improving to 5-0 against Chicago this season.

Baltimore’s leadoff batter reached base in each of the first six innings, a first since July 4, 1997, when they lost 11-8 to Detroit in the second game of a doubleheader. The Orioles went 7 for 23 with runners in scoring position and closed in on the AL East-leading New York Yankees.

This was Baltimore’s most productive offensive day since they scored a season-high 17 runs on June 20 against the Yankees, and their 18 hits were their most since collecting 18 at Houston on June 21.

“I think that’s the offense we believe we are, and it was fun to see it come out today,” Slater said.

After an 0-10 homestand, Chicago is now on its third-longest losing streak this season, following slides of 21 games from July 10 to August 5 and 14 games from May 22 to June 6. The White Sox need to go 12-11 to avoid tying the post-1900 loss record set by the 1962 New York Mets, who finished 40-120.

Chicago is on track to finish with a 36-126 record, which would be the second-most losses in history, behind the 1899 Cleveland Spiders’ 20-134 record. The White Sox have lost 15 of their last 16 games and 41 of their last 45.

Flexen (2-14) gave up three runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings and hasn’t won a game since May 8 at Tampa Bay, going 0-11 with a 5.73 ERA in 21 appearances (20 starts).

Capuano had a record of 0-13 with a 6.12 ERA for Milwaukee in 23 appearances (19 starts) from May 13, 2007, to June 3, 2010, missing the 2008 and 2009 seasons due to Tommy John surgery.

“Every time I take the ball, I expect myself to go out and be competitive, have strong outings,” Flexen said. “I don’t think a lot of them have been all that great, a couple of quality starts in there, but my performance has been very disappointing on my end.”

Henderson hit a home run into the right-center bleachers in the first inning, tying Cal Ripken Jr. (1991) and Miguel Tejada (2004) for the most home runs by a Baltimore shortstop.

Corbin Burnes (13-7) allowed two runs — one earned — and six hits in five innings. He had been winless in three games since his last win at Cleveland on August 4.

Cole Irvin gave up a run in three innings to earn his second big league save, and his first since July 19, 2019.

Chicago’s Andrew Benintendi hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning, and Gavin Sheets followed with an RBI single.

Anthony Santander evened the score with an RBI single in the third inning, and Slater put the Orioles in front with a run-scoring double.

Henderson’s sacrifice fly and Adley Rutschman’s RBI single gave the Orioles a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning, and they scored six runs in the sixth inning. Mullins added a two-run homer off Touki Toussaint in the eighth inning.

“Hopefully this gives our hitters some confidence,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said.

“With a bunch of guys kind of grinding right now offensively, and they have been for a while, you start seeing your numbers improve a little bit on the board and get a couple hits and you come to the park a little bit differently the next day.”

Gavin Williams threw seven strong innings, and the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Monday.

Lane Thomas and Josh Naylor each hit two-run home runs for Cleveland, which leads the AL Central and has won four out of its last five games.

Williams (3-7) gave up one run and one hit in a promising September outing, bouncing back after going 1-4 with a 6.56 ERA in five starts last month.

“Filling up the zone,” Williams said. “Talking with (catcher) Bo (Naylor) and having a better plan. Just seeing the way they took different pitches.”

The right-hander walked two batters while throwing 46 pitches in the first two innings but then retired his last 16 batters.

“The first couple of innings he was fighting himself,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Made an adjustment. To go seven was much needed, for him, for us, and everything.”

The Guardians started the day with a 3 1/2-game lead over Minnesota and Kansas City in the division.

The Royals played without manager Matt Quatraro, who was absent due to a personal matter. Bench coach Paul Hoover managed the team in Quatraro’s place.

Kansas City ended up with two hits in its sixth straight loss, a season high.

“The ball’s not bouncing our way,” Royals infielder Michael Massey said. “We’ve gone through streaks where the ball hits on the right side of the chalk line and streaks where it hits the wrong side. We’re just on the wrong side right now.”

Thomas’ ninth home run of the season gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning. It was Thomas’ first homer since being traded from Washington on July 29.

“All you want to do is contribute,” Thomas said. “It was nice to give Gavin a little support there.”

Trevor Larnach and Brooks Lee both hit home runs to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.

The Twins won their second consecutive game for the first time since their three-game winning streak from August 15-17. They stayed 3.5 games behind AL Central-leading Cleveland and moved ahead of Kansas City for the AL’s second wild-card spot.

Five Minnesota relievers combined to pitch 5 1/3 innings, allowing only one run. Jorge Alcala (4-3) got four outs for the win, and Jhoan Duran closed the game with his 21st save in 23 attempts.

“We needed a lot of guys to come in and pitch well. It was a very good, communal team win,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “There were a lot of calls to the bullpen. I called down there early and said it’s basically gonna be a bullpen kind of battle between both teams.

Some of them were fresh, some of them were far from fresh, but we got the win.”

With a Labor Day crowd of 11,636 in attendance, Tampa Bay lost for the fourth time in five games.

Dylan Carlson drove in two runs for the Rays, and Jonny DeLuca hit his fifth homer of the season. Zack Littell (5-9) gave up four runs and seven hits in four innings.

Carlson’s two-run single gave the Rays a 2-1 lead in the first inning. But Larnach hit a three-run home run in the second inning for his 15th homer of the season.

“We’re not sitting here where we’re at without Trevor Larnach,” Baldelli said. “He’s hitting in a prominent spot in the lineup and he’s there for a reason.”

Lee added another home run in the eighth inning off Garrett Cleavinger, sending a drive to center for his third of the year.

Littell walked four batters and struck out two in his first game back from the 15-day injured list due to right shoulder fatigue.

“Physically I felt good, just obviously not very sharp,” Littell said. “Command wasn’t great. Missed a lot over the plate. I mean, four walks just doesn’t play.”

Sean Manaea pitched for seven innings, allowing just two hits, and Francisco Lindor hit his 29th home run to help the New York Mets win 2-0 against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. This loss was the 107th for the White Sox, setting a new franchise record for the most losses in a season.

The White Sox (31-107) broke their previous record for losses, which was set by the 1970 team. They also had the first 0-10 homestand in their history and became the first team since the 1965 Mets to have three separate 10-game losing streaks in one season.

Lindor gave the Mets a 1-0 lead with a home run to start the fourth inning off Garrett Crochet. In the ninth inning, Starling Marte hit an RBI double off the center-field wall against Justin Anderson.

This win was the Mets’ fourth straight and ninth in their last 13 games, finishing a 7-3 road trip. They are now just one game behind Atlanta for the final NL wild card spot after the Braves lost 3-2 to Philadelphia in 11 innings.

Manager Carlos Mendoza said, “We knew coming in here, especially after playing the Padres and the Diamondbacks, that we needed to keep the intensity, we needed to stay locked in, match their energy.”

He added, “I’m proud of the guys that we were able to do it one day at a time. And finally getting that last one 2-0 was important for us.”

Manaea (11-5) struck out five, walked two, and hit a batter with a pitch. He has won his last four outings and New York has won 12 of his last 15 starts.

Manaea retired his first 11 batters before walking Lenyn Sosa, who was then picked off at first base to end the fourth inning.

The White Sox didn’t get a hit until Miguel Vargas had a single to left field with two outs in the fifth inning. Chicago had a chance to score in the seventh inning but did not succeed.

Xander Bogaerts hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, and the San Diego Padres won 4-3 against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, despite giving up a three-run lead.

“We don’t like to give up leads,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “It’s not very common for us. (But when) we do get in a position where we need to fight back, we do.”

Jackson Merrill hit a two-run homer for the Padres, who are closely competing with Arizona for the first NL wild card spot. Merrill now has 79 RBIs, tying Benito Santiago’s rookie record for the team set in 1987.

Merrill also made a great diving catch in center field on Ben Rortvedt’s leadoff liner in the third inning.

“It makes you say, ‘Wow,’” Shildt said. “It’s clearly a highlight-type play. And of course the swing was big, too.”

Jake Cronenworth drew the Padres’ 10th walk leading off the ninth inning against Manuel Rodríguez (3-4) and advanced to third on Manny Machado’s single. Bogaerts then drove in the go-ahead run with a hit to deep center field.

Tampa Bay issued its most walks since August 29, 2019, against Houston.

“The walks set the tone,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “You’re dealing with some veteran hitters to take the walks, but between Machado and Bogaerts, they just have a good idea of what they’re doing.”

Tanner Scott (9-5) got out of a two-on, one-out situation in the eighth inning, and Robert Suarez did the same in the ninth to earn his 21st save in 23 chances.

Tampa Bay had only two baserunners through five innings against Dylan Cease before loading the bases with no outs in the sixth on two walks and a hit.

Jason Adam, who was acquired from Tampa Bay in July, then hit Junior Caminero with a pitch to bring in a run. Another run scored on Josh Lowe’s double-play grounder, and the Rays tied the game at 3 on a wild pitch by Adam.