CHICAGO — Gunnar Henderson was bouncing. He skipped and he frolicked. His tongue was out of his mouth in a Michael Jordan-esque look, which was fitting considering this is the city of MJ.

Henderson, best of all, had given the Orioles a two-run lead with his second home run of the series.

For as anemic as Baltimore’s offense looked earlier in the game — and Henderson was part of it, striking out twice — the Orioles are never really out of it if Henderson can stride to the plate one more time. On Monday night, manager Craig Albernaz said this is the best part of Henderson. He can be ticked off at two strikeouts, including one with two outs and the bases loaded in the second, and yet he’s always a danger in his next at-bat.

The Orioles had already tied the game in the eighth inning before Henderson came to the plate with Taylor Ward on second. The White Sox decided to bring in left-hander Chris Murphy to match up against Henderson, and yet, it was no matchup at all.

Henderson hit a two-run laser just over the fence in right-center field, then he started his gallivanting route around the bases, having ensured that the Orioles would go on to win this one, 4-2, despite a shaky start.

“You’ve got your best player at the plate, and that’s what happens, man,” said Blaze Alexander, who doubled to start the eighth-inning rally. “He’s going to be better than most, if not every pitcher. I want that guy up, and he was up in that situation, and bang, ballgame.”

When asked if in his short time managing the team he had seen Henderson as elated as he was rounding the bases in the eighth, Albernaz said no.

“I mean, he’s shown flashes of it,” Albernaz said. “But I think that one, obviously, go-ahead homer off a lefty, late in the game, yeah, he deserves to be excited. I love seeing that.”

Henderson has seen many left-handed relievers this season. Teams are cognizant of his MVP potential, and even with right-handed batters around him in the order, opponents would rather have Henderson contend in a left-on-left matchup than against a righty. Last year, Henderson recorded an .877 on-base-plus-slugging percentage against righties and a .603 OPS against southpaws.

Early this year, Henderson already has homered twice against left-handers. He had three in all of 2025.

Henderson said his results against left-handed pitchers are a good sign that his swing is “very close to getting back to where I want to be.”

“Making good swing decisions and giving myself plenty of chances to get the job done,” said Henderson, who added that he was almost as excited to avoid extra innings in this cold weather as he was to power his team to a win.

So, matchup be damned. Henderson turned a two-strikeout day into a 2-for-4 performance with a hustle infield single in the fourth and the go-ahead blast in the eighth. It had been a grind for the Orioles (5-6) before then, but Alexander and Ward’s back-to-back doubles set the stage for Henderson’s blow.

For some time, it seemed the two runs that left-hander Trevor Rogers allowed over six innings would be enough for Chicago (4-7). The early stages of this game were a bizarre case study in futility.

Futility in throwing balls in the strike zone; futility in laying off those errant offerings; futility in putting the ball in play at all. On this cold day in the South Side, with the game time moved earlier to avoid the even colder temperatures after nightfall, the first 11 batters that the Orioles sent to the plate could not achieve contact, all while White Sox right-hander Shane Smith could not find the zone.

Of those 11 batters, six struck out. Four walked. Another, Alexander, took a pitch off the helmet to earn his 90 feet.

“The command was an issue, but he found ways to rip his curveball and have his heater with some life in the strike zone,” Albernaz said. The mid-afternoon shadows across the diamond and the bitter cold made the entire endeavor more challenging.

The Orioles stranded bases loaded in the second inning and again in the fourth. But Rogers — who had his worst performance “stuff-wise,” he said — still provided his third quality start of the season.

While Rogers was in the game, the offense only managed to scratch out a run in the fifth. And all of a sudden, a three-batter sequence in the eighth turned the game on its head. Alexander, Ward and Henderson — tongue-out Gunnar — provided Baltimore with its second win in a row.

“We all know what this team can look like, what this team can be, and Gunnar’s the guy for us,” Rogers said. “The fact that he came up in that spot and pulled through, that’s why he is who he is. He’s the man.”