CHICAGO -- Nick Markakis preserved the lead on defence and then enlarged it at the plate. Satchel Paige Jersey . The right fielder hit a two-run homer after preventing one with a leaping catch, sending the Baltimore Orioles to an 8-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Monday night. While offence usually is the focus, Markakis didnt hesitate when asked which moment felt better. "Robbing a two-run homer," he said, "especially in that situation." Nelson Cruz and J.J. Hardy each added a solo shot as the Orioles upped their AL East lead to 7 1/2 games over the idle New York Yankees. Cruz hit his 32nd homer, passing White Sox rookie Jose Abreu for the American League lead. Cruz is tied with Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins for most in the majors. Markakis was 3 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs, but everyone in the Baltimore locker room was talking about his clutch catch. "That was big," manager Buck Showalter said. "The score wont look like it, but obviously it was a big play." The Orioles entered the bottom of the seventh with a 3-0 lead after starter Bud Norris (11-7) retired 17 of his first 18 batters. But he quickly found himself in trouble in the seventh after hitting Alejandro De Aza with a pitch and giving up a double to Alexei Ramirez that put runners on second and third with the heart of the Chicago lineup coming up. Abreu flied out to shallow centre and Adam Dunn struck out. It appeared Norris might escape with his shutout intact, but Avisail Garcias two-run single made it 3-2. Conor Gillaspie followed with a drive to deep right field, where Markakis raced back to the fence and made a leaping grab. "I thought I had a shot at it all the way," he said. "I was going after it. I was doing everything I can to catch it, with the situation of the game and the way Bud was pitching. "It helped us out tremendously and kind of took the wind out of their sails a little bit." The Orioles then broke it open with a five-run eighth. Jonathan Schoop doubled in three runs and Markakis hit a two-run homer to cap the rally. Chicago ace Chris Sale (10-3) took the loss, yielding three runs and eight hits in six innings. He has dropped two straight decisions. The Orioles are the only AL team he hasnt beaten in his career. "We were a great outfielder away from potentially winning that game," Sale said. TRAINERS ROOM Orioles: 3B Manny Machado will miss at least another week with a sprained right knee he sustained while taking a swing last Monday. Theres no timetable for his return. Machado didnt play this season until May 1 because of surgery on his left knee in the off-season. White Sox: CF Adam Eaton (strained right oblique) continues to make progress and the hope is hell be ready to return when hes eligible to be activated from the 15-day disabled list Sunday. Eaton, though, is likely to go to the minors for a rehab stint before then. UP NEXT In the second game of the series Tuesday night, Orioles RHP Chris Tillman (9-5, 3.68 ERA) faces LHP Jose Quintana (6-9, 3.14). ALL DUNN? Adam Dunns four-year, $40 million contract is up at the end of this season and the White Sox slugger hinted Monday there is a possibility he could retire. Dunn, who turns 35 in November, has 459 homers and could move way up the career list by sticking around a few more years (hes just three from tying Jose Canseco for 34th place). But he said numbers, even the possibility of hitting 500 homers, wont be a determining factor. "Its going to be a decision where Im going to sit down with the people who are important to me and make a quick decision," Dunn said. "Whether its tomorrow (or) whether its February, I dont know." WAITING GAME RHP Miguel Gonzalez, sent to the minors Aug. 9, is expected to be back with the Orioles this weekend to start against the Cubs. Gonzalez threw a simulated game in the minors Monday -- Double-A Bowie had the day off -- to prepare for the potential assignment. Bob Uecker Jersey . Showing more spark after not taking enough challenging shots on goal in their 1-0 loss Friday night, the Bruins had 18 shots in the first period after managing just 25 in the entire opener. Luke Glendening cut Bostons lead to 2-1 at 13:20 of the second period before Milan Lucic scored late in the second and Zdeno Chara added a power-play goal early in the third. Rowland Office Braves Jersey . According to Tony Barrett of The Times, the Liverpool captain is set to announce that he will leave the club at the end of the 2014-15 season. https://www.cheapbraves.com/2223o-matt-joyce-jersey-braves.html .com Tours Nova Scotia Open. The 27-year-old Sloan, a former Texas-El Paso player from Calgary matched first-round leader Rodriguez at 10-under 132 on Ashburn Golf Clubs New Course.PHILADELPHIA - After sitting idle without a first-rounder in the NHL draft, one Ottawa Senators scout was thrilled to get to make some picks on Day 2. "The scouts were happy," general manager Bryan Murray said. "I think somebody shook my hand at the end." That wasnt the handshake Murray went into the weekend hoping for. And try as he did, he was unable to consummate a trade to give centre Jason Spezza his wish to leave Ottawa. "I called the teams or took calls from teams that were interested," Murray said Saturday. "We talked about the return, the type of deal we wanted to make. In a couple of cases there was real interest and it went away. So I dont know whether it was because of the draft and on the day of the draft picks are very valuable, whether that was part of it or it was something different." Murray wanted a first-round pick, a roster player and a prospect for his captain, who has a limited no-trade clause and thus the power to refuse to go to 10 teams. One of those 10 is Nashville, which had a deal worked out to get Spezza that couldnt go through because he didnt agree to go to the Predators. "David (Poile) talked to me and we couldnt go there," Murray said. "I told (Spezzas agent) Rick Curran that today, I had a deal sitting there if I wanted to do it, but he was on the list of no-gos." A Senators-Predators deal mightve landed Ottawa the 11th pick. Instead, Poile pulled the trigger on getting winger James Neal from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling. Considering that and the Anaheim Ducks trade with the Vancouver Canucks for centre Ryan Kesler, Murray knnows that "the field narrows a little bit. Adeiny Hechavarria Jersey. ." Murray estimated that he talked to four or five teams about Spezza and that three expressed fairly serious interest. It never worked out, leaving everyone in the situation still hanging. “Im sure its disappointing for him, its disappointing for me because Id like to accommodate him if I could, but he does have a year left on his contract," Murray said. "If thats the case well have a pretty good player for next year." Or its possible that teams circle back to the Senators after July 1 if they dont land Paul Stastny or another free-agent centre. As far as Ottawas approach to the start of free agency, thats affected by Spezza, too. "I dont know, thats the problem," Murray said. "Part of your decision is what can you spend, where does it fit and what do you get in return for a certain player? If you dont know that, then its harder." Unable to get anything done on the Spezza front, the Senators made five picks to stock up for the future. They took defenceman Andreas Englund 40th, defenceman Miles Gendron 70th, forward Shane Eiserman 100th, defenceman Kelly Summers 189th and left-winger Francis Perron 190th. The 189th pick, a seventh-rounder, Ottawa got from the Winnipeg Jets for a 2015 sixth-rounder. That was the only trade Murray was able to make in Philadelphia. "It just seemed to me there were a lot of phone calls, a lot of talking, people interested, but nothing really happened," he said. "I had to make one trade at the end, a seventh-round pick for the sixth next year just to say I did something. So that was my accomplishment." ' ' '