With a little help from the calendar turning over and an opponent enduring a historically bad season, Corbin Burnes can finally sigh a bit of relief. Monday was his best start in over a month.

The Orioles’ ace set up a 13-3 Labor Day win conceding only two runs (one earned) with four strikeouts in five innings against the now 108-loss Chicago White Sox. Baltimore (80-59) temporarily moves into a first-place tie atop the American League East with the New York Yankees, who play the Texas Rangers on Monday night.

Burnes’ first inning of work looked like he might not have been fully ready to turn the page from August to September.

Three of Chicago’s first four batters reached base safely on a few pitches that Burnes claimed, “I don’t think I could have thrown any better.” He pressed his glove to his hip watching a ball sail over him into the outfield. The pitcher’s head tilted sideways as if he were searching for answers in front of Camden Yards’ 35,906 attendees.

Burnes, now escaping his interminable August, was true to form from there.

He struck out Zach DeLoach to end the first. With a runner on third, he set down back-to-back batters on strikes to escape the second. Key double plays twice left Chicago runners stranded. He generated nine swing and misses and eight total outs via ground out.

“He scuffled through those first couple,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He pitched out of traffic there a little bit in the second. But I thought he found his groove, and good to see him really have a nice last three innings.”

Added Burnes: “I’ve done this long enough I know that when I’m getting weak contact and making good pitches that things are gonna turn in my favor.”

August had been some of the worst collective pitching of Burnes’ career.

In the final month of summer, he recorded two wins over five starts with a 7.36 ERA. The last time he endured a single month so torrid? It was July 2019 when Burnes, then a reliever, recorded a 12.46 ERA in 4 1/3 innings across six games.

Burnes lived up to his former Cy Young Award winner billing from his opening day start through the end of July with a 2.47 ERA. Hyde chalked the digression up to “games or innings that got away from him that we didn’t see in the first half.”

Burnes took a “step in the right direction,” in his words, with his last outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Labor Day and the start of September had all the bones of a bounce-back start. For a depleted Orioles rotation, it’s just what the group needed.

“They managed to put the ball in play and found holes, really wasn’t any balls hit hard tonight,” Burnes said after his first win since Aug. 4, “so definitely some positive things and keep moving forward.”

Baltimore’s offense did plenty to pull its weight against MLB’s cellar dwellers. Their 13 runs and 18 hits each tied for the second most this season. Monday was its best offensive outing since a 17-5 win over the Yankees on June 20.

That started with Gunnar Henderson’s first leadoff home run since June 16 – a month before the All-Star break. A welcome sight for Orioles fans as the franchise shortstop ripped a fastball 397 feet to center field.

With home run No. 34, Henderson tied Cal Ripken Jr. (1991) and Miguel Tejada (2004) for the most in a single season by an Orioles shortstop. It was his ninth leadoff blast, second most in the majors, trailing only Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber.

Anthony Santander’s RBI single in the third tied the game at 2. Austin Slater doubled in the third for Baltimore’s first lead, part of his three-hit, three-RBI day that snapped an 0-for-15 skid.

The Orioles’ advantage ballooned with a six-run sixth inning. Cedric Mullins doubled a sharp liner to right field and Slater chased him home. Third baseman Emmanuel Rivera found a gap in right field for his second triple of the season and first since the Orioles picked him up off waivers Aug. 21.

The clubhouse takeaways from such a dynamite offensive showing — even if against Chicago — were clear. Burnes talked about how one game can spark team-wide success. “Hopefully this is the game that carries us,” he said. Slater doubled down: “I think that’s the offense we believe that we are, and it was fun to see it come out today.”

Prior to Monday’s first pitch, Hyde lamented how tough Baltimore’s recent stretch had been: piling injuries, inconsistent pitching and slumping offense. “Right now,” he said, “we’re doing best with the roster we have.”

Monday evening was a glimpse at Baltimore’s best with what they have.

“This second half we haven’t had many games like this,” Hyde said postgame. “You start seeing your numbers improve a little bit on the board, you get a couple hits and you come to the park a little bit differently the next day.”

Around the horn

The Orioles have selected the contract of utility player Nick Maton from Triple-A Norfolk and DFA’d catcher David Bañuelos, the club announced.

Third baseman Ramón Urías landed on the injured list Sunday with a right ankle sprain. Of his potential to return, Hyde said, “I don’t know. He’s walking around on crutches right now. So, I don’t know how long that’s gonna be. A sprained ankle could be two to four weeks. Who knows?”

Other injury updates: Jacob Webb will likely pitch in at least one more rehab game before returning, Dean Kremer may play catch Tuesday to test out swollen forearm, and Ryan Mountcastle is feeling better but he hasn’t swung a bat yet and Hyde has “no idea” on his timeline to return.