CHICAGO — The Orioles battled until the last out but were unable to extend their winning streak Sunday afternoon.
Chicago White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease struck out a career-high 13 batters in a 4-3 victory to prevent what would have been Baltimore’s first four-game road sweep since 2011.
Baltimore (34-40) scored twice in the ninth and had the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base, but Trey Mancini struck out to end the game and the Orioles’ four-game winning streak.
Cease went seven innings and allowed four hits, one of them a solo shot by Jonathan Araúz for his first hit with Baltimore. Orioles starter Jordan Lyles also covered seven frames, though he dealt with much more traffic. The four runs Lyles surrendered matched the total the rest of the pitching staff allowed since he exited his previous start Tuesday.
Gilman product Gavin Sheets, the son of former Oriole Larry Sheets, got the White Sox on the board with a two-run home run in the bottom of the second. Araúz answered with his home run in the top of the third, but Lyles gave that run back in the bottom half when Lenyn Sosa doubled for his first major league hit and eventually scored on Andrew Vaughn’s sacrifice fly. A leadoff walk in the fourth bit Lyles thanks to a pair of two-out singles.
He kept Chicago scoreless over his final three frames, throwing 111 pitches in the outing. It marked Lyles’ third seven-inning start of the year; all other Orioles have combined for one.
Baltimore didn’t threaten further against Cease until the seventh when Adley Rutschman doubled with one out, but he was stranded at second. The Orioles put two on for third and fourth hitters Anthony Santander and Austin Hays against Joe Kelly in the eighth, with both representing the tying run, but Santander grounded out ahead of a Hays strikeout to end the inning.
White Sox first baseman José Abreu made a pair of errors to begin the ninth, with a walk and single following. After Rougned Odor struck out as a pinch-hitter, Cedric Mullins lined a sacrifice fly to get the Orioles within one, but Mancini struck out to end the game.
First went far
Araúz became the first Oriole to homer for his first hit with the club since Keon Broxton in 2019. Broxton’s, at Colorado’s Coors Field, went a projected 474 feet, the longest home run an Oriole has hit since 2016.
Claimed off waivers from the Boston Red Sox earlier this month, Araúz, 23, was playing in his second game for the Orioles after being called up Saturday. The switch-hitter figures to get time around the infield, playing third base Sunday after starting at second Saturday. In the bottom of the eighth, he started an impressive double play to prevent Chicago insurance runs.
Around the horn
— Right-hander Kyle Bradish, on the 15-day injured list with right should inflammation, said he has “no doubt” he’ll be activated once eligible. Manager Brandon Hyde said it will hopefully be around then, but the club needs to see him back on a mound first.
— Mancini was in the lineup at designated hitter after taking a pitch to his left hand Saturday. Odor didn’t start a game in the series as he dealt with a sore back.
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