BALTIMORE — The Chicago White Sox had a two-run lead in the seventh inning Wednesday, but the Baltimore Orioles were threatening, loading the bases with one out.
Jorge Mateo hit a grounder down the third-base line that appeared headed to left field for a game-tying hit. Sox third baseman Yoán Moncada made a diving stop, touched the bag with his hand, sprang to his feet and threw a strike to first for a remarkable inning-ending double play.
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“When I saw the ball coming at me, my first reaction was to grab the ball, touch the bag and throw to first base,” Moncada said through an interpreter. “I wasn’t thinking of doing anything else.”
Moncada provided the defense, Lucas Giolito the pitching and Gavin Sheets the crucial hits for the Sox in a 5-3 victory against the Orioles in front of 12,565 at Camden Yards.
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“We were firing on all facets of the game,” said Giolito, who allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts and two walks in 6⅓ innings. “When we do that, we win games.”
Sox manager Tony La Russa described Giolito’s outing as “gutsy, timely.”
“He was outstanding,” La Russa said.
La Russa also pointed out the hitting, calling it “timely.” The Sox had 12 hits, all singles, and went 7-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
Sheets, who is from Lutherville, Md., made a major contribution with three hits and three RBIs to help the Sox pull back into a tie for second in the American League Central with the Minnesota Twins. Both teams are four games behind the division-leading Cleveland Guardians.
Sheets gave the Sox a first-inning lead, driving in two with a single to center.
“Get thrown into a big at-bat your first at-bat, it’s always nice to get us on the board and get things going early,” Sheets said. “Especially give a pitcher like (Giolito) two runs, it goes a long way.
“It was important to get those runs there. It felt nice to get the night going like that.”
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The Orioles cut that lead in half in the fourth when Adley Rutschman doubled and scored on a groundout.
The Sox still led 2-1 in the sixth when Cedric Mullins reached second with a hustle double for the Orioles. Giolito got Rutschman to ground out to shortstop Elvis Andrus and Anthony Santander to pop out to Andrus.
“I felt very much more like myself,” Giolito said. “Like from a rhythm standpoint, mentally, just really freed up. Tried to have conviction behind every pitch. (Catcher) Seby (Zavala) did a really good job sequencing, maybe shook him off to a different pitch once or twice. We had a nice game plan and a good rhythm.”
Sheets added insurance in the seventh, beating out the shortstop Mateo’s throw to first with the bases loaded for a run-scoring infield hit that extended the lead to 3-1.
Giolito (10-7) exited after walking Ramón Urías with one out in the seventh. Kendall Graveman entered with two on and one out and walked Rougned Odor on four pitches.
Mateo was next. And that’s when Moncada made the game-saving double play.
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“Everything about it was outstanding, especially the significance,” La Russa said. “Two-run game. But you know it when he goes to his right, he goes to his right as good as anybody in the league. He makes that throw. That was huge.”
Moncada touched the bag with his right hand while making the diving stop and touched the base again when he got to his feet.
“It was because I was trying to have very good support to throw to first base,” he said.
The Sox added two runs in the eighth, including an RBI single by AJ Pollock. Graveman returned for a perfect eighth. Liam Hendriks rebounded after giving up a two-run homer to Austin Hays to wrap up the victory.
“When we play the game clean, play the game tight, we’re having fun, dugout has a good atmosphere, then we usually come out on top in games like that,” Giolito said. “So we want to keep that vibe going.”
