A curveball dropped into catcher Ramon Hernandez's glove last night, and Orioles pitcher Erik Bedard started to walk off the mound before plate umpire Adrian Johnson could signal a called third strike. Bedard already knew the sixth inning was over for the Chicago White Sox.
His dominance was just as obvious - and a tad repetitive.
Bedard extended his scoreless-innings streak to 16, blanking the White Sox through the seventh, and Nick Markakis and Corey Patterson homered to provide all the scoring in the Orioles' 2-0 victory before an announced crowd of 28,162 at Camden Yards.
Chris Ray walked two batters in the ninth before registering his 15th save as the Orioles (39-50) avoided falling a season-worst 13 games below .500.
"It's a game you don't want to let get away - as well as Bedard pitched and as well as we played in the field," interim manager Dave Trembley said. "You want to do whatever you can to win the game."
Markakis hadn't homered since June 8 against the Colorado Rockies, the last time the Orioles were at .500. He jumped on left-hander Mark Buehrle's first pitch of the fourth inning and broke a scoreless tie.
Patterson increased the lead to 2-0 in the fifth. Two of his three home runs this season have come against the White Sox - both within a week.
"A home run, a base hit, whatever is going to help the team out," he said. "It was a good game tonight. We had two great pitchers going at it."
Bedard (8-4) didn't figure to duplicate his last start, or come close to it. Last Saturday, he faced the minimum number of batters and struck out 15 while throwing the first complete game of his career in a 3-0 victory over the Texas Rangers.
Last night's performance didn't quite match up, but Bedard dazzled again, holding the White Sox to three hits and striking out seven, including three in his final inning.
Over his past two starts, he has allowed five hits, walked two and struck out 22 in 16 innings.
"I just go out there and pitch," Bedard said, "and whatever happens, happens."
Tadahito Iguchi singled with one out in the first inning but was erased on a double play. Jermaine Dye walked with one out in the second, but Bedard got another double play. A pattern was developing.
In his previous start against Chicago on July 2, Bedard allowed a career-high three home runs and left in the sixth with the Orioles trailing 6-2. They rallied in the last two innings for a 7-6 victory.
