BALTIMORE — It was sloppy at first — and manager Pedro Grifol promised to address it with his team later — and it looked like an Orioles win for a sweep from the get-go. But the White Sox and Dylan Cease recovered from a defensively shabby four-run Orioles first inning and came away with a 10-5 victory Wednesday at Camden Yards.
For a team trying to avoid a 100-loss season and ready to name Chris Getz any day now as the head of its new front office with 37 games left, the win against one of the best teams in baseball alleviated some crankiness on the flight home on the eve of an off day.
“I’m proud of the offensive side of the ball but as a team and organization we have to focus on the little things as we move forward,” Grifol said.
“There are some things we have to clean up, we have to hit cutoff guys,” Grifol said.
Grifol could have gone on about a sizable cleanup task that lies ahead. It’s something he and Getz have had multiple conversations about. There are personnel to be assessed, fixes to be made and multiple boxes to be checked, things Getz will be asked about soon.
The Sox cleaned up their first-inning mess Wednesday with two-run homers by Andrew Vaughn and Oscar Colas and Luis Robert Jr.’s 35th of the season. Robert became the 14th Sox (24th time) to hit 35 homers in a season. Frank Thomas did it seven times. Orioles starter Kyle Gibson (13-8) served up all three homers.
Vaughn hit his 17th homer and Colas his fourth.
Dylan Cease (6-7, 4.91 ERA) survived a shaky first inning and threw 109 pitches to complete a six-inning outing, allowing five runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out seven batters, touching 97.8 mph with his fastball and getting 19 swings and misses.
Third baseman Elvis Andrus, Vaughn and Robert each had two hits and Vaughn also doubled and drove in three runs. The Sox (53-82) handed the Orioles (83-50) just their ninth loss in August. The Sox were outscored 18-3 in the first two games of the series.
Who’s in charge
While the hire or hires to replace Ken Williams and Rick Hahn await, communication with assistant general managers Getz and assistant GM Jeremy Haber has been “really good,” Grifol said.
“Jeremy is here [in Baltimore]. Chris is back home. Spoke to Chris this morning, spoke to Jeremy today,” Grifol said.
“[Chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] made it clear Chris and Jeremy and myself would do things until he makes a decision. Hasn’t made a decision yet so we’re just continuing to be led by Chris and Jeremy until something happens.”
Getz is the leading candidate to be named general manager.
