Kyle Stowers hit his first major league homer to tie the game with Baltimore down to its last strike, and the Orioles went on to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox in 11 innings Thursday night. The win kept Baltimore - which lost 110 games a season ago - within 2 1/2 of the final wild card in the American League.
Anthony Santander won it with an RBI single, but it was Stowers who provided the night's biggest swing in the ninth. The 24-year-old outfielder, playing his seventh career game, sent an 0-2 pitch from Liam Hendriks over the wall in right-center field. Hendriks had converted 19 save chances in a row before that.
Andrew Vaughn went deep on the game's first pitch for the White Sox, but Santander answered with a two-run shot in the first. The White Sox tied it with an unearned run in the seventh, and Jose Abreu hit an RBI single in the eighth to put Chicago ahead 3-2.
The White Sox remained four games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central.
Lyles allowed one earned run and nine hits. Chicago's Lance Lynn allowed one earned run and three hits in six innings.
The White Sox start a nine-game homestand Friday night, the first opponent being Arizona. Johnny Cueto (6-5, 2.58 ERA) starts for Chicago against Tommy Henry (2-2, 3.57).
