3:02 AM UTC
Melanie Martinez-Lopez
BALTIMORE -- Gunnar Henderson had not scored a run since Aug. 24. He ended the weeklong drought and made history in the process during his first at-bat of Monday’s Labor Day contest.
He got the Orioles’ first run on the board en route to a 13-3 series-opening win over the White Sox at Camden Yards -- which helped the O's maintain pace at a half game behind the Yankees at the top of the AL East standings. Henderson scored his first run in eight days, but his 34th dinger did more than snap that streak.
- Complete coverage: Orioles’ clinch scenarios, tiebreakers, key games and more
Henderson tied Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and six-time All-Star Miguel Tejada with the most homers by a Baltimore shortstop in a season. Tejada accomplished the feat in 2004, and Ripken set the bar in 1991.
“It’s really special, just the caliber that they were. It’s really cool being in that conversation. It’s something that I hold dearly,” Henderson said.
- Be there for every O's home game in September. Just $65 total
Against Sox starter Chris Flexen, the O’s leadoff hitter hammered a 92.8 mph fastball on a 1-1 count into center field at 108.2 mph.
“[I was] just trying to get some[thing] up, felt like I could do damage with,” Henderson said. “[I] chased on the pitch before, and then I was able to push it off just a little bit and get some barrel.”
The 23-year-old still has four more weeks to set a franchise record. He said he tries to be aware of his numbers when he’s close to tying or breaking records, but he doesn’t put all of his focus on it.
“Whenever you're trying to chase stuff like that, you don't really play your best ball,” he said. “[I feel] like that's just something that I've learned going through it -- just trying to go out there and help the team win any way I can and stuff like that comes with it. That’s the way I’ve tried to play and the way I try to help myself.”
The leadoff knock was the O’s 12th leadoff home run of the season -- which is tied for most leadoff home runs in franchise history, set in 1996, and leads MLB this year.
“Yeah, I liked it,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s done that quite a few times for us this year. Have him back in the leadoff spot, and he gave us -- after they put up two -- he did a great job of getting the momentum back to our side with a big homer there in the first.”
Baltimore continued to build onto its attack as the game went on, taking a 3-2 lead in the third inning and adding two more runs in the fifth.
Then the offense erupted and scored six runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 11-2. Cedric Mullins capped off the scoring, knocking a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.
By the end of the game, each Orioles starter recorded a hit and scored a run for the first time since Aug. 25, 2017.
“Yeah, and the beginning of the game was really frustrating because we left so many runners out there,” Hyde said. “Our bats weren’t the best there with multiple runners on base through the first few innings, but fortunately we broke it open there in the sixth and got some big hits. Austin Slater with a great day, and Emmanuel [Rivera] with a big day, too. I thought once we got in that bullpen, the bats were really good.”
It is only the second day in September, but with the offense breaking out as they did in the sixth inning and with a two-game win streak, the August struggles seem to be behind them.
“Offensively, we know that’s the team that we are,” said starter Corbin Burnes, who limited the White Sox to just two runs (one earned) in five innings. “We saw it for the first three months of the year before we got into a little funk. But there’s a reason why this offense is one of the best offenses in the game. They showed it tonight. … Usually, you have one of those games to kind of get you going and [it] all of a sudden sparks everyone, and everyone starts raking. So hopefully this is the game that carries us.”
