White Sox beat Orioles 3-2; late clutch hitting (huh?) notches victory

The Chicago White Sox have had a lot of problems this season. I think we all know that.

But one of the biggest issues that has plagued this team has been timely hitting.

The Sox went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position tonight...until the eighth inning.

This comes a day after they failed to convert a second-and-third, nobody out situation in the sixth inning — not to mention leaving the tying run at third base with one out in the ninth.

But tonight, they finally broke through. Daniel Palka led off that eighth inning with a triple that went in and out of right fielder Mark Trumbo’s mitt. He shoulda had it. Welington Castillo followed with a jam-shot single to right-center field to cut Baltimore’s lead to 2-1.

Later that inning, Yoan Moncada came to the plate with the bases loaded. Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter brought in a left-hander to turn Moncada around to the right side. Moncada buckled down and guided a fly ball to right field for a sac-fly to tie the game.

Yolmer Sanchez then lined a single to right field to put the Sox ahead — his third hit of the game. Sanchez interrupted Castillo’s postgame interview by pouring a bucket of Gatorade on himself because...why not?

Let’s also not forget the impressive outing from James Shields tonight. He went a full seven innings, giving up just two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five.

Again, you have to respect Shields continuing to eat up innings for this team. He has a 3.27 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in May.

Bruce Rondon turned in another clean inning in the top of the eighth.

Nate Jones came on in the ninth and — wait for it — made things interesting. He gave up a leadoff walk, allowed a single, and got behind a few hitters, but got the job done.

The White Sox improve to 14-31 with Dylan Covey (oh yeah) on the mound tomorrow night.