O's lose series finale in Chicago to end a brutal 1-7 road trip

CHICAGO - Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman kept getting into and out of jams, but he finally broke. We've seen this a lot lately from Orioles pitching.

Chicago scored four runs off Tillman in the last of the sixth, with some wildness from right-handed reliever Jimmy Yacabonis thrown in, as the White Sox beat the Orioles 5-2. The Sox take three of four in this series at Guaranteed Rate Field.

With the loss, the Orioles are back under .500 at 32-33. They completed a 1-7 road trip and have lost 12 of 13 and 16 of their last 18 on the road.

The White Sox began this series with nine losses in their past 11 games, but take three of four to improve to 29-36.

In a 1-1 tie, Tillman started the sixth, and Matt Davidson doubled and Yolmer Sánchez walked. Catcher Kevan Smith bunted toward third and the Orioles appeared to have a miscommunication on the bunt defense as it went for a single to load the bases. Third baseman Manny Machado creeped in but then retreated to cover the bag, and Tillman was not there to cover the line on the bunt.

After a strikeout, a two-run single by Melky Cabrera made it 3-1 and ended Tillman's day. Yacabonis came on for his third major league appearance. He was very wild, and two straight walks forced in a run for a 4-1 lead and a sac fly by Leury García made it a 5-1 game.

Tillman was charged with all five runs along with a season-high 11 hits over 5 1/3 innings. He falls to 1-5 with an ERA of 8.07 and has allowed five runs or more in four straight starts. He gave up a career-high nine runs in his last game at Yankee Stadium. Over these past two starts, Tillman has allowed 14 runs in 6 2/3 innings.

In the last nine games, the O's rotation has one quality start and an ERA of 12.60.

Earlier, Tillman stranded five runners over the second and third innings. But Davison hit a solo homer off him in the fourth for a 1-0 lead. Davidson homered in each game of the series, going 7-for-15 with four homers and eight RBIs. He is the first White Sox player to homer in four consecutive games since Alex Rios in April 2013.

The O's got even in the fifth on a Caleb Joseph RBI double. But they could have had more there, stranding runners on second and third with one out when Joey Rickard struck out and Adam Jones lined out.

The Orioles added a run in the ninth when Welington Castillo hit his second homer to center in two games. This 425-foot blast led off the inning against David Robertson and pulled the Orioles within 5-2.

The Orioles offense went 1-for-7 today with runners in scoring position. They have scored three runs or fewer 32 times, going 8-24.

Thus ends a poor series and brutal road trip for the Orioles, who began today just a half-game ahead of the last-place Blue Jays. Now the Orioles head home, where they are 21-10, to face the Cardinals on Friday night.