Everyone waited a split second to see if Andrew Benintendi had indeed homered in the eighth inning Tuesday at Rate Field.
The Chicago White Sox left fielder launched a long fly to center field. Colton Cowser raced to the wall and jumped. The Baltimore Orioles center fielder crashed to the ground without the ball, which was just out of his reach and landed over the fence for a two-run home run.
After the brief delay, fireworks went off as Benintendi’s blast brought the Sox within a run. They couldn’t complete the comeback, though, losing 8-7 in front of 12,428.
“Another great example of these guys continuing to battle,” manager Will Venable said. “Got off to a great start there offensively. (Starter) Shane (Smith) did, too. Just as the game went on and they continued to score runs, our guys continued to battle and it was nice to see us make it interesting.”
After falling into an 8-2 hole, the Sox scored five runs in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to one.
With one out in the ninth inning, Chase Meidroth reached base on a single. But Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery struck out to end the game as the Sox (57-95) suffered their fifth consecutive defeat.
“It got close there,” Teel said. “The boys battled back, but it is what it is.”
Teel began the scoring with a two-run home run in the first inning.
The Orioles tied it with two runs in the third inning. They took a 4-2 lead on a two-run home run by rookie Samuel Basallo in the fourth and scored two more runs in the fifth, which included an RBI triple by Dylan Beavers.
Smith allowed those six runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in 4 1/3 innings.
“Felt good,” Smith said. “Results were what they were.”
The right-hander attributed it to a “lack of attention to detail.” Asked to elaborate, Smith said it was “just not executing.”
Smith saw some similarities to a bumpy stretch in the middle of the season.
“This outing reminds me of what I went through in June and July,” he said. “Not something I’m unfamiliar with. And need to bounce back.
“I’d say it’s a little bit different in terms of I think the approach is much better now than it was at that time. But I think it just kind of comes down to execution and not doing what you’re good at.”
Venable saw a “really good fastball” from Smith on Tuesday.
“It was just some of the two-strike execution, especially with the breaking stuff,” Venable said. “Got beat on the curveball a couple of times. I know he yanked a fastball to Beavers there at the end.”
Beavers hit a two-run home run against Wikelman González in the seventh, extending Baltimore’s lead to 8-2.
The Sox staged their five-run rally in the eighth, all with two outs. Meidroth was on third with two outs when Miguel Vargas struck out. But the ball got away from the catcher Basallo for a wild pitch. Meidroth scored as Vargas reached first safely.
Mike Tauchman singled. And then with Lenyn Sosa at the plate, Orioles reliever Chayce McDermott got called for a balk. Sosa followed with a two-run single, bringing the Sox within 8-5.
The Orioles called on Rico Garcia, and Benintendi greeted him with the two-run home run on the first pitch. It was his 20th home run of the season, matching a career-high.
“There’s a lot of fight in this ballclub,” Teel said.
The winning run came to the plate for the Sox after Meidroth singled with one out in the ninth. Teel worked a 3-1 count against Keegan Akin, but swung and missed on a high pitch out of the zone.
“Trying to do too much,” Teel said. “I wanted to end the ballgame right there, but you know, I swung at a bad pitch and that was it.”
Akin struck out Teel on the next pitch. He then struck out Montgomery, who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and one walk.
“All these experiences are ones that they can learn from and are going to grow from,” Venable said. “We’ve seen them come through in a number of spots and they have been challenged before. Each one of these experiences is going to help them grow.”
