White Sox Hold on to Defeat Orioles

Brent Morel homered and drove in two runs, Carlos Quentin also connected, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 Tuesday night for their season-high fifth straight victory.

Chicago built a 4-0 lead after four innings, let the margin dwindle to a run in the fifth, then held on to secure its seventh successive road win.

Gavin Floyd (10-10) gave up three runs in 6 2-3 innings for the White Sox. The Maryland native is 3-0 with a 2.28 ERA lifetime in Baltimore. Coming off a horrid performance against the Yankees in which he surrendered 10 runs in 2 1-3 innings, Floyd improved to 4-1 in his last five starts.

Baltimore wasted a leadoff walk in the eighth, and Sergio Santos struck out Robert Andino for the final out to earn his 24th save and extend his road scoreless streak to 29 games.

After Baltimore scored three runs in the fifth, Floyd ended the inning by retiring Vladimir Guerrero with a runner on second. In the seventh, after Felix Pie hit a leadoff double and advanced on a sacrifice, J.J. Hardy grounded out to third and former Oriole Will Ohman struck out Nick Markakis.

Making his first start with Baltimore after being obtained on waivers from Toronto, Jo-Jo Reyes (5-9) allowed four runs and five hits in four innings. Both walks he issued came around to score, and he also yielded two home runs.

Chris Jakubauskas followed with four innings of two-hit relief.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter received his second ejection of the season after umpire Phil Cuzzi called Markakis out on the front end of a double steal in the fifth inning. Markakis and third base coach Willie Randolph initially protested the call, and Showalter carried the argument to another level before being tossed by Cuzzi. Replays indicated the runner was safe.

By losing the first two games of the four-game series, Baltimore will again fail to win its first series since June 24-26. Chicago jumped on top with a two-run second inning. After Quentin led off with his 24th home run, Brent Lillibridge walked with two outs and scored on a single by Morel.

Reyes walked leadoff hitter Alexei Ramirez in the third, then got two outs before A.J. Pierzynski doubled in a run. The hit came after Andino missed a tag on Ramirez during a steal of second base.

In the fourth, the White Sox again scored with two outs, this time when Morel hit a 3-1 pitch into the left-field seats. He has two home runs in 263 at-bats this season.

Held hitless through the first three innings, the Orioles got a leadoff double from Markakis in the fourth. But with runners at the corners, Floyd struck out Chris Davis and Mark Reynolds to end the inning.

Baltimore finally broke through in the fifth. Three straight singles loaded the bases, and Hardy drove in a run with fielder's choice. Markakis followed with an RBI single, and another run scored when shortstop Ramirez fumbled Adam Jones' grounder. Then came the ill-fated double steal attempt.