No Sale: O's and Tillman top first-place White Sox 6-0

Chris Sale took the mound tonight at Camden Yards with a record of 15-4 and ERA of 2.65. He ranks tied for third in the American League in wins, fourth in ERA and eighth in strikeouts. He looked like he had some dominant stuff early in the game. But that was before Nick Markakis smoked a three-run double to center field in the bottom of the second to propel the red-hot Orioles to another win. They beat Chicago 6-0 in front of 12,814 at Camden Yards. The Orioles are now 14 games over .500 at 71-57 for the first time since they were 42-28 on June 21, 2005. Meanwhile, Chris Tillman shut down Chicago on the O's mound and gave up just one hit over seven innings. He pitched out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings to improve to 7-2 with an ERA of 3.26. Tillman walked four and fanned five, throwing 109 pitches. Sale gave up four runs and six hits over four innings and was taken out of the game at that point. He had two outs and none on in the second before a single and two walks loaded the bases. Sale had given up an average against of just .195 to lefty batters, but Markakis jumped on the first pitch for a three-run double to get the Orioles' offense started. Lew Ford added a solo homer - his second longball in two nights - for a 4-0 lead in the third. Adam Jones hit a solo homer in the seventh to end his longest homerless stretch ever at 110 at-bats. It was Jones' 25th homer, which tied his career high and was the 100th of his career. The Orioles are now winners of four in a row and seven of their last nine. They have won 16 of 22 and 25 of their last 38 games. Joe Saunders makes his O's debut Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. when the Orioles try to again beat the first-place White Sox.