CHICAGO - After the Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 4-3 Wednesday night, Nelson Cruz said he was more focused on t

CHICAGO - After the Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 4-3 Wednesday night, Nelson Cruz said he was more focused on the team than any personal accomplishments. Wholesale USA Soccer Jerseys . Thats not a bad way to be with the Orioles these days. Cruz took the major league lead with his 33rd home run and the surging Orioles completed a three-game sweep of the White Sox. Adam Jones and Steve Pearce also homered as the Orioles won their fourth straight and extended their AL East lead to nine games over second-place Toronto. Cruz matched his career high for homers and moved one ahead of White Sox rookie Jose Abreu and Miamis Giancarlo Stanton. "Its just personal stuff. Im happy because were winning," Cruz said. "Thats the main goal here." Its clear then that the Orioles are reaching plenty of their goals. Baltimore posted its first sweep in Chicago over the White Sox since July 1995. And it did so thanks to its power — the Orioles hit three homers off Hector Noesi (7-9) and lead baseball with 161. Baltimore also got plenty of pitching, with Wei-Yin Chen (13-4) going 7 1-3 innings and allowing three runs and six hits before Zach Britton picked up his 27th save in 30 tries. That was good news for the noisy, orange-clad Orioles fans who made up a decent portion of the crowd and saw their team improve to 39-26 on the road. "If you pitch well, you give yourself some opportunities," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Theres some things we werent perfect at tonight. When you pitch well, it can cover some things and when you catch the baseball." Chen fell behind early when he allowed a two-run homer in the first to Avisail Garcia and left in the eighth leading 4-3 after allowing one-out singles to Alexei Ramirez and Alejandro De Aza. But Darren ODay struck out Abreu then Garcia to end the threat. "Thats a tough spot for them and (ODay) came through big," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "You get a guy, a sidewinder like that, its a tough at-bat for those guys." Noesi went seven innings as the White Sox fell a season-high nine games below .500. "You know, when you miss a pitch, you miss the location they go for it," Noesi said. TRAINERS ROOM Orioles: 3B Manny Machado reported his sprained right ankle had been slow to respond to treatment and exercises. White Sox: General manager Rick Hahn said OF Adam Eaton (strained right oblique) could be off the disabled list next week and will go on a rehab assignment soon. UP NEXT Orioles: RHP Kevin Gausman (7-4, 3.70) faces Cubs RHP Jake Arrieta (6-4, 2.61) on Friday at Wrigley Field. Arrieta spent parts of four seasons with the Orioles before being traded last July to Chicago. White Sox: LHP John Danks (9-8, 4.94) faces Yankees RHP Shane Greene (3-1, 2.91) on Friday in New York. Danks is 2-2 with a 6.20 ERA since July 1. CLOSE TO HOME Curt Schillings revelation of oral cancer hit home to Showalter, who called the ex-pitcher "one of the favourite players I ever had (managed)." Schilling blamed his condition on smokeless tobacco, which Showalter said he used occasionally. "Its a very serious issue," Showalter said. COMING ATTRACTION There has been speculation that Carlos Rodon, the No. 3 overall pick in this years draft, could be called up by the White Sox before the end of the season. But Hahn said "there is nothing set in stone in terms of him coming here or not coming here." Keegan Rosenberry Jersey . The Raptors have to get through the pesky New York Knicks Wednesday at Madison Square Garden and can lock up the third spot in the Eastern Conference with a win or a Chicago loss in Charlotte. Custom USA Soccer Jerseys . - The Washington Redskins have signed free agent offensive lineman Mike McGlynn. https://www.cheapusasoccer.com/681j-nick-lima-jersey-usa.html . The 10-year deal the league and players agreed to that ended the 2011 lockout gave either side the right to opt out after six years. With the league projecting financial growth, there has been speculation that players will take that option in three years, especially since a new national TV contract will be in place by then. OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators need more than stern words to win games. Ottawa was expected to pick up its game after general manager Bryan Murray and coach Paul MacLean addressed the team following a loss to New Jersey on Wednesday. But on Thursday the Senators came undone with a poor third period and a late collapse that ended in a 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers. Tom Gilbert and Tomas Kopecky each scored in the final three minutes as the Panthers won their fifth straight game and seventh in their past eight. "I thought we had a good response from (Wednesday) nights game," MacLean said. "I liked the start of the game. We played (Wednesday) and they were sitting here waiting for us so we expected they would carry it a little bit until we got our legs. The second period I thought we wasted some of our energy and that fatigue didnt help us in the third." Gilbert beat Senators netminder Craig Anderson with a one-timer on a pass from Tomas Fleischmann at 17:28 of the third period with only two seconds remaining on a high-sticking penalty to Senators forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau. One minute later, with the Senators on a power play, Erik Karlsson fell in the Panthers zone allowing Kopecky to break out 2-on-1. He elected to shoot and beat Anderson at 18:19 with the insurance goal. Jimmy Hayes, in the first period, and Aleksander Barkov, in the second, also scored for the Panthers (14-17-50), who got a 32-save performance from Scott Clemmensen. "It was a good effort by everyone and a good road game for us," Clemmensen said. "We had a game plan and we stuck with it. This team is playing with a lot of confidence right now. We went down in the first but we stuck to it and believed in the game plan and thats probably the biggest difference between now and the beginning of the year." At the beginning of the year the Panthers won just three of their first 16 games and it cost head coach Kevin Dineen his job. Peter Horachek took over and his first game at the helm was a 3-2 loss in Ottawa on Nov. 9. Coincidentally that was the last time Ottawa had won consecutive games. "At that point I was just opening the doors," Horachek said of that first game. "I was just telling them how I feel the team should play and I think they wanted to play hard with a new coach. The structure and the confidence wwasnt there and now the guys know they are capable of winning in whatever building they are in. Marlon Fossey Jersey. We have to play our game and not bend around and see how other teams are going to play." Chris Neil and Jason Spezza scored for the Senators (14-17-6), who have now lost two straight and three of their past four. "We just didnt do enough to win. We got too passive and found a way to lose," Spezza said. "Its clear were feeling pressure now and were feeling the heat. Were trying to win hockey games and the effort is there but we dont execute and we dont play loose enough with the puck and were making mistakes at the end. Thats the position weve got ourselves in and we have to find a way to get out because no one is going to give us any help." Both teams took turns taking and giving away the lead through the first two periods, starting with the Panthers. Hayes opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the season as he beat Anderson from the right hash mark at 5:39 of the first period. After a review to see if the puck was kicked in, Neil was credited with the tying goal at 9:17 of the period. Clarke MacArthur took the original shot but after Clemmensen made the save the puck bounced in of Neils skate for his fifth goal of the season. The Senators took the lead in the final minute of the period when Spezza made a sensational play, first getting the puck around Panthers defenceman Dylan Olsen at the face-off circle then beating Clemmensen high and on the short side with very little space. It was Spezzas 11th goal of the season and first in his past 13 games. Barkov tied the game for the Panthers at 17:11 of the second period with his sixth of the season when he redirected Gilberts shot past Anderson. The Senators were also forced to play the final two periods without forward Mika Zibanejad who left after only five shifts and 2:38 of ice time with an upper-body injury. Notes- Defencemen Patrick Wiercioch and Eric Cryba, along with forward Cory Conacher were scratches for the Senators. Defenceman Mike Mottau and forward Scott Gomez sat for the Panthers ... The Ottawa Senators have allowed 42 first-period goals this season, the most in the NHL. Going into Thursday, the Senators had the most penalty minutes in the league with 164 and were only 24th with a 78.9 per cent efficiency on the penalty kill. ' ' '