Henderson hit No. 17 and Rutschman drove in two runs late as O's win again

CHICAGO - This time the Orioles endured yet another rain delay, except this one came without rain or even a tarp. The field was ready for play but with the chance of a storm coming, the start of the Oiroles-White Sox game last night was delayed by 41 minutes.

It just delayed another win and another unique ending. And this time there was no controversial umpire's call. Just a leaping catch at the center field wall by Colton Cowser as the Orioles beat a pesky White Sox team 6-4. 

It seems like they are slowly coming out of their slumping ways on offense, or at least what was an offense that put up just eight runs when they were swept at St. Louis. But now in the last two games here, the Orioles have scored 14 runs on 21 hits with six doubles, three homers and also in going 7-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

On Thursday night in Chicago, the O's saw Ryan Mountcastle get going with a four-hit game and the night also featured two hits by Cedric Mullins and homers by Anthony Santander and Jorge Mateo.

Friday night two players that were struggling a bit recently had solid games in Jordan Westburg and Ryan O'Hearn. Adley Rutschman had the clutch hit late and Gunnar Henderson homered again. 

Rutschman's pinch-hit two-run single in the eighth broke the 4-4 tie and provided the Orioles the winning margin, the win secured when Cowser made his remarkable game-ending catch.

O'Hearn was batting .205 in his previous 14 games before going 2-for-4 with a double and he hit four balls in the game with exit velocities of 97, 98, 97 and 106.5 mph. His double to right in the eighth started the game-winning rally. Westburg had been 1-for-15 on this road trip but hit a couple of balls hard too including a 401-foot shot that was caught in deep center in the first inning and he started the O's scoring with an RBI double in the third.

Henderson hit another opposite-field homer with his two-run shot to left-center in the Orioles fifth inning. That was No. 17 and Gunnar becomes the third Oriole to hit at least 17 homers in the season's first 49 games joining Brady Anderson with 20 in 1996 and Frank Robinson with 17 in 1967.

Henderson has now hit five homers in his past eight games, seven in the last 14 and 14 in his past 34 games. He is tied with Houston's Kyle Tucker for the major league lead.

Henderson is 3-for-7 in this series with three walks, a double and that home run.

The Orioles continue their excellent record this year in games decided by two runs. Both wins this series have come via that margin and they are now 6-7 in one-run games and 11-2 in two-run decisions for a combined mark of 17-9 in close games.

The White Sox (15-37) are a season-worst 22 games under the .500 mark and they are 1-7 in their past eight games. But they have played hard in this series, better than we might have expected and they have pushed the O's hard to gain two wins.

If the Orioles win today they will take this series and they will have won five straight series against the White Sox for the first time since 1977-1979.

The first-place New York Yankees began a West Coast road trip last night beating San Diego 8-0 hitting four homers and pitching a three-hitter. They are now 36-17 (.679) and lead the American League East by three games over the Orioles. 

With Dean Kremer going on the injured list Friday and not starting today, the O's will give the ball to right-hander Albert Suarez (2-0, 1.78 ERA) to make this start.