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.”
