Dunn, Gillaspie Homer, White Sox Top Orioles 5-2
CHICAGO (AP) — Adam Dunn and Conor Gillaspie homered while John Danks pitched into the eighth inning to help the Chicago White Sox snap the Baltimore Orioles' four-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory Tuesday night.
Chicago ended a five-game losing streak of its own and avoided falling a season-high 16 games below .500.
John Danks (2-5) earned his first win since June 8 against Oakland, pitching seven-plus innings and allowing two runs and six hits while striking out four. Following that win against the Athletics, Danks had been winless in three starts while allowing 13 earned runs.
Gillaspie's homer snapped a 1-1 tie in the sixth, and Dunn's 22nd, a two-run homer in the seventh, gave Chicago a 5-1 lead. Addison Reed pitched a scoreless ninth for his 22nd save in 26 attempts.
Jason Hammel, who was looking for his first win since beating Washington on May 27, took the loss and gave up his 17th and 18th homers in 17 starts. Hammel (7-5) pitched seven innings and gave up five runs and nine hits.
Brian Roberts homered for the first time since April 2011 for the Orioles, who were trying for their first five-game winning streak of the season after sweeping three games from the Yankees. With the loss, Baltimore fell 3 1-2 games behind first-place Boston in the American League East.
Tuesday's game capped a busy day for the Orioles, who acquired starting pitcher Scott Feldman and catcher Steve Clevenger from the Cubs for starter Jake Arrieta, reliever Pedro Strop, and two international signing bonus slots. Feldman, who signed a one-year deal with the Cubs last offseason and is 7-6 with a 3.46 ERA, is expected to start Wednesday for the Orioles.
Left fielder Nolan Reimold also came off the disabled list and went 1 for 3. Reimold had been on the DL since May 12 with a strained right hamstring.
The Orioles also got off to a quick start against the slumping White Sox.
Baltimore took a 1-0 lead with one out in the third when Roberts hit his first home run of the season after coming off the disabled list Sunday. Roberts' homer, on Danks' first pitch of the at-bat, was his first since April 13, 2011 against the Yankees.
A two-time all-star, Roberts' career has been derailed by numerous injuries. He's played only 120 games since the start of the 2010 season and five this year after going on the DL April 5 with a strained right hamstring.
Chicago tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on Gordon Beckham's one-out single to left.
Paul Konerko returned to the lineup after missing the first six games on the homestand with lower back tightness. Konerko took a seven-game hitting streak into the game with Baltimore but went 0 for 4.
The White Sox took a 2-1 lead on Gillaspie's one-out homer in the sixth. On a 1-0 pitch, Gillaspie hit his sixth homer of the season, a line drive that landed in the right-field corner.
Chicago scored three times in the seventh, capped by Dunn's 427-foot, two-run homer.
NOTES: The White Sox signed 16-year-old Dominican outfielder Micker Adolfo Zapata to a contract that included a $1.6 million signing bonus, the largest in team history for an international signing. ... Baltimore SP Wei-Yin Chen will make a rehab start Thursday for Double-A Bowie and the team hopes he will get to 90 pitches. Chen has been on the disabled list since May 14 with a strained right oblique. . The White Sox appointed former slugger Jim Thome to a position as special assistant to general manager Rick Hahn. Thome, who last played for Baltimore in 2012, will work with players at all levels throughout the organization. . With Feldman pitching Wednesday against Chicago's Hector Santiago (3-5, 3.59), the Orioles will start Zach Britton on Thursday and push Miguel Gonzalez to Friday in New York against the Yankees.
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