August 23: Orioles 5, White Sox 4
Jason Berken entered today’s start against the White Sox with a 2-11 record and a 6.72 ERA.
And yet, the Sox and Mark Buehrle still couldn’t beat him. The Orioles took Buehrle deep twice, and he’s still looking for his first win since the perfect game.
Buehrle had a rough afternoon from the start, with Brian Roberts taking a low-and-away changeup into the left-center gap for a double, and Adam Jones doing the same for a run-scoring single. He needed 31 pitches to survive the inning.
Some atrocious Oriole defense allowed the Sox to tie it up — Scott Podsednik reached on an error by Robert Andino, he reached second when Brian Roberts couldn’t handle the throw, and scored on Melvin Mora’s inexplicable throwing error.
But Roberts got to Buehrle again in the third with a leadoff single. He’d score on a sac fly, but Buehrle couldn’t limit the damage to one run. Nick Markakis tapped an infield single to the left side, and Buehrle served up a homer to Nolan Reimold for a 4-1 Baltimore lead.
Felix Pie would make it 5-1 by taking a center-cut fastball over the Bullpen Sports Bar, and Buehrle would be yanked with one out in the sixth.
The Sox did show signs of life in the bottom of the fifth against Berken, putting together a two-out rally started by Brent Lillibridge’s four-pitch walk. He stole second, scored on Podsednik’s ground-rule double, and Gordon Beckham scored him with a single through the left side.
Unfortunately, the Sox’s last-gasp rally fell short in the ninth. Paul Konerko led off with a double, advanced to third on Alexei Ramirez’s single to right, and scored on A.J. Pierzynski’s nubber to third. But Ozzie Guillen went to Mark Kotsay to pinch-hit for Lillibridge, leaving Jermaine Dye on the bench, and Jim Johnson struck him out to end the ballgame.
Record: 63-61 | Box score | Play-by-play
