Lopez, Garcia lead Sox to 3rd consecutive win

BALTIMORE — Reynaldo Lopez continued his late-season surge Saturday, tossing seven shutout innings to lift the White Sox to a 2-0 win over the Orioles.

Lopez (6-9) has a 1.10 ERA over his last five starts. He struck out six Orioles and allowed four hits and a walk to help the Sox to just their sixth winning streak of at least three games.

Yolmer Sanchez broke a scoreless tie with a two-out RBI double in the sixth, chasing rookie Yefry Ramirez (1-6) from his longest big-league outing. Avisail Garcia hit his 18th home run in the ninth.

Caleb Frare retired two batters in the eighth and Juan Minaya got the last four outs for his first save.

Lopez was acquired after the 2016 season as part of the trade that sent outfielder Adam Eaton to the Nationals. The hard-throwing right-hander, 24, has been inconsistent since the deal but excellent down the stretch of his first full major-league season.

He retired 13 of 14 batters before Renato Nunez singled in the fifth and became the first runner to reach second on Lopez’s wild pitch. DJ Stewart popped out to end the threat.

In the sixth, Lopez worked out of a two-on, one-out jam. He struck out Tim Beckham with a curveball to end a 10-pitch at-bat, then pumped his fist as Nunez popped his 104th pitch to second.

Ramirez was nearly as good, tying a career high with seven strikeouts while yielding four hits and a walk.

The victory was the Sox’s fourth of the season over the Orioles, guaranteeing them the victory in the season series for the first time since 2008.