Villar, Orioles Beat White Sox 5-4 In Doubleheader Opener
CHICAGO (AP) — Jonathan Villar and the Baltimore Orioles bounced back nicely after a tough start.
All the way to a sorely needed victory.
Villar hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly, and Baltimore stopped a four-game slide by rallying for a 5-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday in the opener of a doubleheader.
Richie Martin opened the eighth inning with a triple into the right-field corner off Kelvin Herrera (0-1). Villar then hit a fly ball to center, and Martin scored easily when Adam Engel's throw landed up the third base line.
"I think it says a lot about our character," Martin said. "We were down four runs in the third. We're never gonna give up, no matter what the score is, no matter how bad things get, we're going to keep pushing."
Branden Kline (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Mychal Givens got four outs for his second save in three chances, striking out Jose Abreu with a runner on first to end the game.
"We escaped there," manager Brandon Hyde said. "We just had a couple of innings defensively that we have not had, so that was disappointing, but I was happy with the way we came back and played well for the rest of the game."
Chicago had won three in a row and four of six. Abreu extended his hitting streak to nine games and drove in two runs, but the White Sox blew a 4-0 lead.
Martin hit an RBI double as Baltimore chased Carlos Rodón with a three-run fourth. Dwight Smith Jr. tied it at 4 with a run-scoring double in the seventh.
Rodón was charged with three runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings. He threw 41 pitches to six hitters in the fourth.
"We tried to get him out more than anything because it was a lot of pitches," manager Rick Renteria said. "He was leaving pitches out over. They were obviously doing a lot with it."
The doubleheader was scheduled after Tuesday night's game was postponed by rain.
The White Sox got off to fast start, taking advantage of three early errors by the Orioles. Abreu drove in Leury Garcia with a double in the first and a single in the third. Yoán Moncada scored when Yonder Alonso reached on an error on first baseman Renato Núñez, and Nicky Delmonico added an RBI single.
Abreu went 2 for 5. He is batting .475 (19 for 40) with 16 RBIs during his hitting streak.
Orioles right-hander David Hess allowed four runs, one earned, and four hits in 4 1/3 innings.
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