O's followed blowout loss with blowout win against White Sox

One night after they played arguably their worst game of the year, the Orioles played perhaps their best. They got pitching, hitting and defense in a 9-1 win over the Chicago White Sox. They snapped a four-game losing streak and a seven-game losing streak at Oriole Park.

Some strong early defense with great plays from shortstop Richie Martin and left fielder Dwight Smith Jr. set an early tone. Then the Orioles bashed four homers over the third and fourth innings. Then starter Andrew Cashner gave them a very solid seven innings in the longest outing in 2019 by an O's pitcher.

The Orioles have followed two of their worst losses of the year with wins by eight runs the next night. That is their biggest win margin of the year. They allowed seven homers and got hammered 15-3 by the Yankees on April 7, then beat Oakland 12-4 the next night. Monday it was a 12-2 loss to the White Sox followed by last night's blowout win.

The victory included Chris Davis' second homer, a two-run shot to left-center in the third that provided a 4-0 lead. It was Davis' first Camden Yards homer of the season and first since Aug. 24. Davis hit two balls in play at 95 mph or more. He has hit 18 of 34 balls in play over 95 mph so far this season, and his percentage of 52.9 is the highest on the club.

Since he ended his long hitless streak, Davis is batting .360 (9-for-25) his last eight games, with three doubles, two homers and eight RBIs. In 20 games for the season, he's batting .155 with two homers and 10 RBIs.

The Orioles are 7-3 when scoring first and 6-2 when outhitting their opponents. The Orioles are 1-13 this year when they score four or fewer runs, but a lack of runs was not an issue last night. Their pitchers allowed a season low of one run for the third time. It was also just the third time on the year they did not allow a home run, and the second time in three games.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde spent the majority of his pregame media session Tuesday talking about trying to keep his team positive, upbeat and playing with good energy, even when they lose big, as they did on Monday.

They've been mostly competitive in 2019, but some recent blowout losses can cloud that. Hyde's club has a winning record on the road and is 7-9 against the American League East. That is respectable for a team expected to finish in last place.

Hyde is not accepting of blowout losses or down nights by his team, but over 162 games, he knows he is going to see some of that. All fans of the Orioles will as well.

"You want to win," said Hyde. "Been to the postseason four years in a row. And it feels good to win. Nights like (Monday) or how we've been playing at home is tough, but I have been through the other side also, where I've been through a 100-loss team with a group of young guys that were getting their feet wet in the big leagues. I have seen the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel type of situation. I feel like this is where we're at right now.

"There have been a few games where it's gotten away from us. We're going to have more games like that. It doesn't make it OK, either. We're going to continue to try to play like we've been playing the majority of the time. Like we played on the road is how I see our team playing the rest of the year."