Hamilton homers in 2nd straight game as Sox snag the sweep

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The White Sox’ four-game sweep of the worst team in Major League Baseball isn’t strikingly remarkable in itself. But something strikingly remarkable definitely occurred in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, and it was Billy Hamilton hitting his second home run in consecutive games.

This third-inning leadoff solo shot came on a 2-1 fastball off Orioles starter Keegan Akin, a similar pitch to the one he dinged out of the park on Saturday.

“I got to a 2-1 count and I was just thinking about staying through the middle, and I ended up pulling the ball,” Hamilton told reporters after the game.

Another reporter poked some fun at Hamilton, asking if he knew this one was a goner after Hamilton bolted at Olympic-medal speed around the bases to try for a triple on Saturday before he knew he had a home run.

“I knew I had it, but I didn’t wanna act like I knew it because I don’t hit home runs and I’m not to a point where I’m able to pimp home run, so I was like, I know I got this, so let me get like a nice little trot around the bases,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton’s long ball tied the game after Lucas Giolito gave up a home run to DJ Stewart a half-inning earlier.

It wasn’t Giolito’s tidiest performance, but it was a heck of a good one. Giolito, who earned his fifth win of the season, recorded a season-high 12 strikeouts and allowed just three hits through seven innings.

“The changeup for me today was pretty big,” Giolito said after the game. “They were showing early it looked like a fastball approach, so we were able to mix the changeup off of the fastball. I was able to keep the fastball in the top part of the zone."

Giolito later described how that trusty changeup got him out of a one out, bases loaded jam in the sixth inning.

“I knew that those next two hitters would probably be looking for a heater to drive and get those runs in, and we weren’t gonna give in there, so I really relied heavily on the changeup,” Giolito said. “That’s on Zack [Collins], too. He called all those pitches. I don’t think I shook at all in that situation. He recognized that the changeup was working there. The fastball was a little iffy, and so we used the changeup to get out of it."

The White Sox offense thanked Giolito for his service on the mound with some run support in the seventh when Tim Anderson scored on a triple from Nick Madrigal, and Yoán Moncada drove the latter home on a single to center.

That’s all the South Side would need, as Garrett Crochet went one-two-three in the eighth before Liam Hendriks entered the game in the ninth for his third save in less than 24 hours.

Now, the White Sox head to Cleveland for a more meaningful four-game bout with the Indians, who trail the White Sox by 3 1/2 games in the AL Central Division.

Related: Hendriks vents about Sox being Chicago’s 'second team'

 

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