Jimenez can’t keep up in fifth inning
The impressive Chicago White Sox starting rotation figured to catch up with the Orioles eventually, and it finally did in the O’s’ 7-1 loss before 28,803 on Sunday at Camden Yards.
Left-hander Chris Sale, who likely will be named American League Pitcher of the Month for April, kicked off May with another strong performance, pitching 51⁄ innings and allowing just one run on five hits to improve his record to 6-0 with a 1.66 ERA.
Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez tried to keep up, but a decent performance came unraveled in the fifth inning and he would leave after allowing 13 base runners in 42⁄ innings. He was charged with six earned runs in his worst outing of the season, which dropped his record to 1-3 and raised his ERA to 5.20.
“Both pitchers walked four guys and he [Jimenez] had a couple hit by pitch,” manager Buck Showalter said. “That was a little disappointing, but they had four balls that were jam shots and things that. It wasn’t his day. He was a pitch or two away from getting out. You knew the margin of error was going to be a little short with Sale.”
It rained almost up to game time, but the game started on time and was played without any appreciable precipitation.
The Orioles had a few opportunities to score against Sale. Joey Rickard and Manny Machado opened the third inning with back-to-back singles, but Mark Trumbo struck out and Adam Jones grounded into a double play. Rickard and Machado also put together consecutive walks with one out in the fifth, but Trumbo and Jones again could not cash them in.
The O’s finally got onto the board in the sixth. Chris Davis led off with a single and eventually scored when Nolan Reimold poked a single up the middle off reliever Jake Petrika, who had just come in to replace Sale.
The loss dropped the Orioles to 9-3 at home and 14-10 overall. The White Sox, who arrived in Baltimore riding a six-game winning streak, improved to 18-8 and have won eight of their past 10 games. Ubaldo’s Waterloo: Jimenez worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second inning, but he couldn’t get out of his own way in the fifth. He allowed the first two batters of the inning to hit safely, hit Adam Eaton with a pitch, gave up a run on a fielder’s choice and then allowed five more batters to reach base. He gave up five hits in that five-run inning and also hit White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier with a pitch. There were a few soft hits in that mix, but seven hits, four walks and two hit batsmen in 42⁄ innings doesn’t leave a lot of room to curse the fates.