American League Game Summary - Chicago at Baltimore, Game One
Baltimore, MD (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Sale was dominant over 7 2/3 innings in guiding the Chicago White Sox to a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the first game of Thursday's traditional doubleheader.
Sale (4-2) gave up just four hits with a season-high 12 strikeouts and no walks. The stingy left-hander extended his franchise record of games with 10- plus strikeouts to 21.
"He just had a real good feel for it," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Sale. "He wasn't all-out effort and I think that was because he had the soft stuff going. He felt great. He wanted to go back out there (for the eighth)."
Adam LaRoche went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two doubles, while Melky Cabrera and Tyler Flowers each drove in a run for the White Sox, who will attempt to sweep their first doubleheader against the Orioles since Aug. 21, 1999 in the nightcap.
Chris Davis hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning for Baltimore. Tyler Wilson (1-1), who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk prior to the game, was tagged with the loss but pitched well in his first career major league start, giving up two runs on five hits over six innings of work.
"(Wilson) gave us a chance to win," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Just matched up against one of the best pitchers in baseball."
The doubleheader, being played after the games on April 27th and 28th were postponed due to safety concerns over the Freddie Gray protests, will continue with Chris Beck making his major league debut on the mound for Chicago against Baltimore's Mike Wright.
Chicago broke the scoreless deadlock in the sixth. Adam Eaton worked a walk to start the frame and raced home on Cabrera's double to deep left. After a Jose Abreu pop out to first, LaRoche hit a line drive past the glove of Adam Jones in center field for an RBI double and a 2-0 score.
With men on first and third and one out in the ninth, Flowers grounded into a fielder's choice to push across another run.
Delmon Young singled off Zach Duke with two outs in the home half and came home after Davis crushed a curve ball to right to make a one-run game. However, Jake Petricka struck out Travis Snider on three pitches for his first save of the season.
LaRoche doubled to open the second, but was tagged out by Manny Machado sliding into third after Jones caught Alexei Ramirez's liner to center and quickly launched the ball to Machado.
The White Sox worked another leadoff hit off Wilson when J.B. Shuck singled to center to start the fifth. Shuck stole second, but was left stranded after Wilson set down the next three batters.
Sale was equally as good through five innings, allowing just two hits and striking out the side in the first and fifth frames.