BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Esteban Loaiza continues to be a most pleasant surprise for the Chicago White Sox.
Loaiza allowed one run and four hits in 8 1/3 innings to become the fourth four-game winner in the major leagues as the White Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1, in a game that lasted just two hours and eight minutes.
Signed to a minor league contract by Chicago in the offseason after two mediocre years in Toronto, Loaiza (4-0) has won his first four starts for the White Sox.
"I'm a new pitcher," he said. "I'm getting ahead of the batters. I don't have a favorite pitch. I'm getting the outs with everything."
The righthander, who walked none and struck out eight, lowered his American League-leading ERA to 1.24. He has allowed just four earned runs in 32 2/3 innings this season.
"I'm having fun here," Loaiza said. "We're scoring runs and we're winning games, and that's what we need to do."
Loaiza blanked the Orioles until giving up a solo homer to Jay Gibbons with one out in the ninth. Billy Koch recorded the final two outs for his third save.
"He's (Loaiza) a hot guy right now," White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said. "He's mixing his pitches. The difference (between last year and this year) has been the addition of offspeed pitches. He's gotten a lot of outs off changeups and cutters. He's not only controlled them, but he has command of them."
Baltimore was without manager Mike Hargrove, who left the team to be with his ailing mother. He is expected to return on Wednesday.
"We ran into a buzzsaw," Orioles acting manager Sam Perlozzo said. "He had us frustrated all night. He has been doing that all season. He was painting the outside corner, got his pitch in on us."
Chicago's Magglio Ordonez extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 games with a single in the fourth. Ordonez's streak is the longest in the major leagues this season.
Frank Thomas gave Loaiza an early lead with a solo homer off Sidney Ponson (1-2) in the top of the first.
The White Sox took a 2-0 lead on Joe Crede's RBI double in the fifth before Paul Konerko delivered a run-scoring single in the ninth.
"Loaiza was unhittable," Ponson said. "After the first inning, I knew I couldn't afford to give up another run but I did. I did give our team a good chance to win."
Chicago's Carlos Lee was held to a single in four at-bats, ending his streak of homering in five straight games, which tied a franchise record.
Baltimore outfielder B.J. Surhoff was ejected by plate umpire Eric Cooper after making the last out in the eighth inning. Surhoff objected to a called strike during his at-bat.
