Henderson's 34th HR sparks Orioles to 13-3 win, dropping White Sox to 31-108 with 11th loss in row

BALTIMORE (AP) — Gunnar Henderson tied a franchise record for shortstops with his 34th home run, and the Baltimore Orioles extended Chicago’s losing streak to 11 with a 13-3 rout of the White Sox on Monday.

Chicago dropped to 31-108 and lost its 20th straight game in which Chris Flexen (2-14) started, setting a major league mark for most consecutive losses in a pitcher’s starts that had held by Milwaukee’s Chris Capuano.

Cedric Mullins homered with three RBIs, and Austin Slater and Henderson each drove in three runs for Baltimore, which overcame a 2-0 deficit and began a six-game homestand by improving to 5-0 against Chicago this season.

Baltimore’s leadoff batter reached in each of the first six innings for the first time since July 4, 1997, an 11-8 loss at Detroit in the second game of a doubleheader. The Orioles went 7 for 23 with runners in scoring position and pulled within a percentage point of AL East-leading New York.

The Orioles had their most prolific offensive day since scoring a season-high 17 runs on June 20 against the Yankees and their 18 hits were their most since collecting 18 at Houston on June 21.

“I think that’s the offense we believe we are, and it was fun to see it come out today,” Slater said.

Coming off an 0-10 homestand, Chicago is on its third-longest skid this season after slides of 21 games from July 10 to Aug. 5 and 14 from May 22 to June 6. The White Sox would have to go 12-11 to avoid tying the post-1900 loss record set by the 1962 New York Mets, who went 40-120.

Chicago is on pace to finish 36-126, which would be the second-most defeats behind the 1899 Cleveland Spiders at 20-134. The White Sox have lost 15 of 16 and 41 and 45.

Flexen (2-14) allowed three runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings and is 0-11 with a 5.73 ERA in 21 appearances (20 starts) since winning May 8 at Tampa Bay. Capuano was 0-13 with a 6.12 ERA for Milwaukee in 23 appearances (19 starts) from May 13, 2007, through June 3, 2010, missing 2008 and ’09 following Tommy John surgery.

“Every time I take the ball, I expect myself to go out and be competitive, have strong outings,” Flexen said. “I don’t think a lot of them have been all that great, a couple of quality starts in there, but overall my performance has been very disappointing on my end.”

Henderson led off the first inning with a shot into the right-center bleachers, matching Cal Ripken Jr. (1991) and Miguel Tejada (2004) for the most by a Baltimore shortstop.

Corbin Burnes (13-7) allowed two runs — one earned — and six hits in five innings. He had been 0-3 since winning at Cleveland on Aug. 4.

Cole Irvin allowed a run in three innings for his second big league save, and first since July 19, 2019.

Chicago’s Andrew Benintendi hit a sacrifice fly in the first and Gavin Sheets followed with an RBI single.

Anthony Santander tied the score with an RBI single in the third and Slater put the Orioles ahead with a run-scoring double.

Henderson’s sacrifice fly and Adley Rutschman’s RBI single built a 5-2 lead in the fifth, and the Orioles scored six runs in the sixth. Mullins hit a two-run homer off Touki Toussaint in the eighth.

“Hopefully this gives our hitters some confidence,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “With a bunch of guys kind of grinding right now offensively, and they have been for a while, you start seeing your numbers improve a little bit on the board and get a couple hits and you come to the park a little bit differently the next day.”

MOVES

Baltimore selected the contract of INF/OF Nick Maton from Triple-A Norfolk and designated C David Bañuelos for assignment.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: INF Brooks Baldwin (right hand), who hasn’t played since Wednesday, took batting practice, and interim manager Grady Sizemore said the rookie had no restrictions.

Orioles: RHP Jacob Webb (elbow inflammation) threw a scoreless inning with a walk Sunday in a rehabilitation appearance for Triple-A Norfolk. Hyde said Webb is likely to make at least one more rehab outing.

UP NEXT

Chicago rookie RHP Nick Nastrini (0-6, 7.04 ERA) makes his second start Tuesday night since returning to the majors last week. Baltimore counters with rookie LHP Cade Povich (1-7, 6.58), who is winless in his last six starts.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Patrick Stevens, The Associated Press