The Baltimore Orioles have enjoyed successful visits to Chicago to face the White Sox over the past few years, and will look to keep that going when they bid for the sweep of a three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.
The Orioles (71-80) claimed the series when they hung on for an 8-7 win on Tuesday. After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, Baltimore responded with eight runs from the third through seventh innings to build up an 8-2 advantage. The White Sox scored five runs in the eighth to tighten the gap.
Baltimore has won seven straight as the visitor against Chicago and is 11-2 since the start of the 2022 season. The Orioles haven’t lost on the South Side of the Windy City since April 15, 2023.
The 2025 season hasn’t turned out the way the Orioles envisioned when the campaign kicked off nearly six months ago. Last in the American League East and in 12th place in the AL overall, the Orioles were officially eliminated from postseason contention on Tuesday.
“Just the start of the year got us behind the 8-ball,” shortstop Gunnar Henderson said. “We had a good little winning streak there for a bit and couldn’t get on another to get back in the hunt. We just kind of got ourselves in a deep hole that we couldn’t get out of.”
Baltimore will attempt to seal the sweep behind Tyler Wells (1-0, 2.31 ERA). He will make his third start since returning from right elbow surgery, with the Orioles having won his first two outings. The 31-year-old right-hander is 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against Chicago.
The White Sox will counter with veteran left-hander Martin Perez (1-5, 3.27 ERA) as they look to snap a five-game losing streak. Perez has faced Baltimore 16 times (14 starts) in his career, going 4-6 with a 4.66 ERA.
It’s been another disappointing season for the White Sox (57-95), who are last in the AL for a second straight season and this year sit second to last in the majors, with only the Colorado Rockies below them. Last year, Chicago set a modern major league record with 121 losses.
“Every single year, at the beginning, it kind of goes fast and then slows down and gets fast again,” shortstop Colson Montgomery said. “We will look back on this season, look at some of the good things, some of the things you need to improve on, but you need to flip the page and get ready for next year.”
Despite falling short on Tuesday, there was a hint of a silver lining for the White Sox, with the offense breaking out of a recent funk. The seven-run outburst came after the club managed just four runs over the previous four games.
Chicago catcher Kyle Teel went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer in the latest loss. He has hit five of his eight homers this month.
“It has been a long season, but I try to go out there with the mentality that every day is Opening Day,” he said. “A lot of other guys have that mentality. So it’s just one day at a time.”
–Field Level Media
