Even factoring in their disparate pitching styles, or the fact that Steven Wilson struck out four of the six batters he faced, there's really no way the veteran reliever generating more whiffs in his outing than starter Martín Pérez is a good sign.
Wednesday offered no exception, since Pérez's efforts ended in abrupt fashion with two outs in the fourth, as he signaled for the training staff and departed the game without hesitation due to what the White Sox termed as soreness in his throwing shoulder. That's a distressing coda to a Pérez season already largely defined by a career-threatening arm injury, and made Wilson's four outs come via an emergency appearance.
Pérez is set to undergo an MRI on Thursday. So much for his day off.
"I’ll be ready for next year," Pérez said. "I think I can go three or four more years. I know it’s not good to finish on the [IL], but everybody knows what I can do when I’m on the mound. Hopefully it’s nothing bad and can have a good offseason."
With three runs on his tab by the time he departed, Pérez was already in line for the loss by the fourth inning. Other than the whole issue of shoulder pain that he said started building in the second inning, Pérez's struggles could be summed up by not getting inside quite enough. Jeremiah Jackson's run-scoring first inning single that pinballed off a diving Miguel Vargas and a standing Colson Montgomery was an up-and-in cutter that didn't have quite enough of either quality. Coby Mayo's fourth inning single came on a sinker that had similar shortcomings, and Mayo scored on a Dylan Beavers homer off a sinker that was more middle than middle-in.
Still, it's easy to envision a better day for Pérez with a healthier shoulder, and if someone wasn't on second base all the time. Gunnar Henderson was offered a free sample of taking an extra base when Will Robertson let his two-out single roll under his glove in the first, and the Orioles liked their initial taste enough to sign up for an unlimited subscription. Despite Jackson's single not actually making it out of the infield, Henderson was positioned to score because he stole third; the first of a season-high seven bases the Orioles stole off Edgar Quero & three different Sox pitchers.
"I don't think I had too much to do with that," Quero said. "They were running the bases pretty well. They were taking the timing of the pitchers. It's part of the game."
"We’ve got to do a better job of mixing it up; being quicker to the plate, the looks at second base," Will Venable said. "We did a nice job pitching, the stolen base did impact the game, even though they didn’t all score. As we’re fighting and clawing for every inch here, we’ve got to do a better job controlling the running game."
Henderson's initial swipe was the only Orioles stolen base that actually led to a run, but it lent an activity to Baltimore's half innings to which the Sox could only aspire. After a pair of singles to open the second, Lenyn Sosa sprayed a couple of foul balls that were almost run-scoring bleeders down the right field line. But spending such a prolonged period of time in swing mode ended in Sosa rapping a cutter at his shoelaces into a deflating double play.
Mike Tauchman broke up the shutout by dropping the bat head on a slider low-and-in and lifting it over the right field fence, but that solo shot was the only mark against Orioles starter Tyler Wells in his breezy six innings on 89 pitches. And it also started a stretch of 15 of the next 16 White Sox hitters being retired that took them straight into the ninth inning.
Bullet points:
*Pérez spoke like a man who knows he's done for the season regardless of what his MRI says on Thursday, but Venable did say that the team's initial examination of his shoulder didn't indicate a serious injury.
*Chase Meidroth led off the ninth with a single to right, and now has a career-high 13-game hitting streak. Quero also had the only multi-hit game for the Sox, so his day could have been worse.
*Grant Taylor made his first appearance in a week after being sideline by a right groin strain. He recovered from a leadoff walk to strike out the side in the sixth.
*Vargas got checked out by trainers after two separate collision/deflections on tag plays at third base, which was busier than usual all afternoon. He stayed in the game, and his sixth inning fly out to the wall in left-center was the farthest any Sox player hit a ball (388 feet) all afternoon. He flied out to the wall again in the ninth, allowing the fans in attendance to briefly feel feelings again.
*Previous high for stolen bases in a game this season for the Orioles was three, which Henderson matched all on his own.
