Povich strikes out 10 in 7 1/3 scoreless innings and Orioles wallop woeful White Sox 9-0 (updated)

A team can’t lose 109 times by accident. Flukes and bad luck don’t explain three streaks of 11 or more defeats in a season and 42 in the last 46 games.

The White Sox are exceptionally bad, and the Orioles, who absorbed plenty of beatings in their rebuild phase, aren’t giving an ounce of sympathy.

No one felt sorry for them. When an opponent is down, you jump on it with both feet.

The Orioles came off the top rope tonight.

They collected three doubles among the first four batters to face Chicago rookie Nick Nastrini and tallied seven runs by the second. Their own first-year starter, Cade Povich, struck out 10 batters in 7 1/3 scoreless innings, both career highs, in a 9-0 victory before an announced crowd of 15,108 at Camden Yards.

A walk-off grand slam by the Rangers' Wyatt Langford dropped the Yankees a half-game behind the Orioles.

Povich allowed five hits and walked none, and the Orioles (81-59) won their third game in a row for the first time since July 14-20 and the first on three consecutive days since a four-game streak from June 26-29. The White Sox had two more ejections than runs scored.

"Stuff we worked on has kind of been working, but then to see kind of everything come together and execute as one is really good," Povich said after visiting with his family and taking photos on the field.

"Offense gets out to a huge lead and it just lets me kind of relax, go back to the game plan, really focus on what I need to do. And just continue to have their back like they had mine.”

The lowlight for the White Sox, and nominations were pouring in, occurred in the second inning after Nastrini walked four batters. Left fielder Andrew Benintendi and third baseman Miguel Vargas chased Eloy Jiménez’s bases-loaded popup down the left field line. Benintendi got a glove on it and Vargas slammed into him, allowing three runs to score.

Vargas got the error and the worst of the collision, taking a shoulder to the eye and lying on the ground with his hand over his face. He eventually got up and stayed in the game for one more batter, which Nastrini also walked to raise his total to six for the night.

White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore finally removed Nastrini, who threw 36 pitches in the first and 36 in the second with only 30 strikes total. The Orioles didn’t have a hit in the second and scored four runs, their most in an inning under those circumstances since May 8, 1985.

Nastrini is 0-7 with a 7.79 ERA in eight starts and he’s walked 32 batters in 32 1/3 innings. The poster child for what’s ailing the White Sox is the team photo and it includes the pitching staff.

Gunnar Henderson entered the night with a .943 OPS as the leadoff hitter and .754 OPS batting third. He doubled to begin the bottom of the first inning and scored with one out on Ryan O’Hearn’s double. O’Hearn came home on Anthony Santander’s double, Nastrini hit the backstop on the fly – the ball went through a hole in the screen of the home plate entrance, which was repaired after the last out – and Colton Cowser singled for a 3-0 lead.

Nastrini hit the backstop again in the second inning, moving Henderson to third after a stolen base and wild pitch. O’Hearn and Santander also walked to load the bases with two outs, Cowser walked to force in a run, and a popup led to disaster for a White Sox club that’s threatening to break the 1962 Mets’ record of 120 losses.

Adding to the absurdity of the play was shortstop Jacob Amaya racing in between Benintendi and Vargas while calling for the ball and then darting away from it as if leaving the scene of a crime. What constitutes baseball on the south side should be punishable by law.

Henderson and Adley Rutschman had three at-bats by the third inning. Rutschman was 0-for-3, but he singled in the fifth against Jairo Iriate.

Jared Shuster walked Cowser with two outs in the fourth and nailed Jiménez on the ear flap after fielding a roller near the mound and firing the ball to first base. Jiménez laid in the dirt, pushed himself up, laughed with assistant athletic trainer Patrick Wesley and stayed in the game. Cedric Mullins singled for an 8-0 lead.

Iriate walked two in the fifth and Santander had a sacrifice fly. The Orioles’ nine walks at that point were six short of their record for a nine-inning game.

“We had a lot of traffic and I thought we did a nice job of not expanding the strike zone,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Walked a ton. Did a nice job not trying to do too much and took advantage of some walks."

And the other stuff.

Sizemore reached his boiling point and was ejected in the dugout in the sixth inning while yelling at plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Benintendi took a called third strike on another Wendelstedt miss and also was tossed.

Meanwhile, Povich retired 10 of the first 12 batters, with Benintendi reaching on a two-out double in the first and Korey Lee getting on via Henderson’s fielding error with one out in the second. Povich stranded two in the fifth and struck out two in the sixth while retiring the side in order.

Fans cheered Povich after the seventh with his pitch count at 89. He came back out for the eighth, got a called third strike and gave up a single, and received his second standing ovation.

Povich, 24, was making his 12^th major league start, and this one counts. His previous career highs were 6 1/3 innings and six strikeouts. The 98 pitches tonight were two short.

"Really good command of the changeup," Hyde said. "A lot of fastballs for strikes. Dumped some nice curveballs in there also. But pretty much the best command we've seen him have since he's been with us this year. Totally in control, and great to see him work ahead of hitters the way he did. We got a lead for him and he filled up the strike zone. So, awesome to see him go into the eighth inning there."

Povich's 10 strikeouts are the most by an Orioles rookie since Kyle Bradish on Sept. 22, 2022. He's the second-youngest Oriole with 10 strikeouts and no walks behind Dennis Martinez on Aug. 3, 1978 and the youngest in a nine-inning game.

The left-hander threw 20 of 27 first-pitch strikes, and 70 of his 98 pitches were in the zone.

* The Orioles have eight shutouts this season after Austin Slater made a diving catch in right field to strand two runners for Craig Kimbrel in the ninth.

* J.D. Davis hit his third home run with Triple-A Norfolk and TT Bowens hit his first. Justin Armbruester allowed four runs in five innings.

Double-A Bowie’s Trace Bright and Ryan Long each allowed one run in four innings.