Nicky Lopez Helps Power White Sox Past Orioles With Surprise Home Run
The White Sox racked up 15 hits, slugged three home runs, and beat the AL East Division leaders by seven runs.
The power surge came from an unlikely source as Nicky Lopez hit his first home run of the season. It marked just his seventh home run in six years in the MLB. Entering the game Lopez was the only player in the MLB to have 400 or more plate appearances and no home runs. It was the first time an MLB player had managed to do that since Lopez did it back in 2022. Oddsmakers had it a +2200 for him to go yard on Wednesday.
Despite the long odds, Lopez launched Orioles starter Albert Suàrez’s second pitch of the game 383 feet to right center field. It was the first of three hits for Lopez, who also scored two runs and drew a walk en route to a rare White Sox victory.
“Everything is good,” Lopez said following the White Sox 8-1 victory over Baltimore. “It’s been tough this year to get those. But every win feels good. Especially because, and I feel like a broken record, we pull so hard for each other in here. It’s a close group and we haven’t been able to get over the hump.”
A major reason why the White Sox have been able to get over the hump has been their defense. Interim manager, Grady Sizemore called the White Sox effort in the first two game games of the series “sloppy” a term that can be applied for much of the season. But that wasn’t the case on Wednesday. Sizemore’s White Sox played a clean game with no errors on the afternoon.
Dominic Fletcher homered and gunned down Cedric Mullins from right field as he tried to tag up from second base in the second inning. Catcher Chuckie Robinson threw out Gunnar Henderson trying to steal second base. Luis Robert Jr. made a difficult leaping catch at the wall in the fifth inning. And rookie-right hander Jonathan Cannon was dealing, throwing 5.2 innings of one-run ball, allowing just five hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
“As a team, we were kind of clicking on all cylinders today,” Cannon told MLB.com. “Offense defense. And you know what? I think it’s just a testament to the kind of guys we have on this team. Just professionals that are able to every day just flush what happened the day before and go out there and do the best we can.”