Cade Povich tosses career-high 10 strikeouts in Orioles win

BALTIMORE — Cade Povich’s rookie season has brought some ups and downs. The 24-year-old left-hander has been shuttled between Baltimore and Triple-A Norfolk multiple times, and he’s also had some inconsistent results over his first 12 career big league outings.

But there’s no doubt that Tuesday night brought Povich’s high point — at least so far.

Povich dazzled over a career-long 7 1/3 innings vs. the White Sox, racking up a career-high 10 strikeouts in the Orioles’ commanding 9-0 win at Camden Yards. The southpaw scattered five hits and didn’t issue any walks while retiring 21 of the 27 Chicago batters he faced during his 98-pitch gem.

Povich’s 10 K’s were the most by an O’s rookie since Kyle Bradish also had 10 vs. the Astros on Sept. 22, 2022.

Baltimore has won three in a row for the first time in the second half after outscoring MLB-worst Chicago, 22-3, over the first two contests of the three-game set. The O’s (81-59) also vaulted atop the American League East standings, moving a half-game ahead of the Yankees (80-59) after New York lost to the Rangers on a walk-off grand slam.

Although strike-throwing has been an issue for Povich at times, that was not the case this time out. He pounded the zone by throwing 70 strikes, 25 of which were called strikes. Povich also racked up 11 whiffs, including five with his four-seam fastball and four with his changeup.

Povich pitched with a big lead for much of the night, as the Orioles provided plenty of early offensive support. They tagged White Sox starter Nick Nastrini for seven runs (four earned) in 1 2/3 innings, with a trio of first-inning runs coming via consecutive RBI doubles by Ryan O’Hearn and Anthony Santander and Colton Cowser’s RBI single.

In the second, Baltimore plated four runs without tallying a hit. Cowser drew a bases-loaded walk, then three runs came in on an Eloy Jiménez pop fly to left that resulted in an error by third baseman Miguel Vargas, who collided with left fielder Andrew Benintendi.

It was the most runs the O’s scored in an inning without recording a hit since a four-run fourth vs. the Royals on May 8, 1985.