A happy Canada Day for Tyler O'Neill was a frustrating afternoon for the White Sox.
The White Sox staked an immediate 1-0 lead on a Sam Antonacci leadoff homer, but the British Columbia native O'Neill snuffed out their only other scoring opportunity with a diving catch that saved two runs in the top of the fourth.
An inning later, O'Neill homered off Noah Schultz to tie the game at 1, and before Schultz or two other White Sox pitchers could turn the page on the fifth, the Orioles seized a 4-1 lead and controlled the rest of the afternoon to stave off a sweep.
O'Neill's catch was the second of two close calls that went Baltimore's way in the fourth. Braden Montgomery's drive to right field hit the top of the white stripe at the top of the wall and bounced back into play, so Montgomery had to accept a two-out double instead of a 2-0 lead. Jacob Gonzalez then drew the only walk on Dean Kremer's line to fill first base and bring Chase Meidroth to the plate.
Kremer dropped in a curve for strike one, but when he tried to follow it with a high fastball, Meidroth was ready. He took a flat swing and sliced a line drive to right, but it didn't slice enough. O'Neill was able to flag it down with a diving attempt to keep the White Sox off the board.
Schultz had kept the Orioles scoreless through four despite more walks than he'd care for, although he struck out the heart of Baltimore's order in the fourth, including an eight-pitch battle against Coby Mayo in which Schultz didn't throw a ball.
But when Schultz returned to the mound in the fifth, an attempt to get back into the count with a 2-1 sweeper against O'Neill ended up in the left field seats, tying the game at 1.
Schultz rebounded to strike out Leody Taveras, but his attempt to land a full-count fastball to Jackson Holliday ended up just outside, and then his 0-2 changeup to Blaze Alexander drifted inside, and he pulled it through the left side for a single that put two on.
Will Venable went to the bullpen, but Bryan Hudson couldn't stop the bleeding. Gunnar Henderson looped a single to right that loaded the bases, and then Adley Rutschman lined a single to left that put the Orioles ahead. Taylor Ward followed by lofting a fly to right that was just far enough to score Alexander despite Montgomery's best effort home for a 3-1 lead, and although Trevor Richards then entered for Hudson, he bounced a changeup for a run-scoring wild pitch for a fourth run.
Two of those runs, along with Alexander's RBI triple in the sixth and Taveras' solo shot off Brandon Eisert in the eighth all ended up being extra, because Orioles pitching kept the White Sox's bats silent. Antonacci went 2-for-4, including a solo shot on the second pitch of the game, but he merely ended up accounting for half his team's hits and the only run. Kremer improved to 4-0 against the White Sox in his career with six innings of one-run ball, and Tyler Wells and Andrew Kittredge retired all nine batters they faced.
Bullet points:
*Schultz's final line: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 57 of 87 pitches for strikes. It's the kind of outing he can build off, provided his knee will allow it.
*Luisangel Acuña and Drew Romo don't pack the same 8-9 punch as Tristan Peters and Gonzalez. Peters led off the fifth with a single, but Acuña's attempt to bunt him over to second was foiled by Kremer, who got the force, and then Acuña was cut down by Rutschman trying to get to second himself.
*Meidroth's lineout was the only White Sox at-bat with runners in scoring position, whereas the Orioles had seven chances and converted three.
