Chicago White Sox fall to Oakland Athletics, losing their 21st consecutive game and tying the record set by Baltimore Orioles in the American League in 1988
OAKLAND, California — Los Chicago White Sox lost their 21st consecutive game, tying the American League recordwith a 5-1 defeat against the Oakland Athletics Monday night, when Max Schuemann broke a tie with a two-run single in the fourth inning.
Chicago is on its longest losing streak since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles lost 21 straight. The National League record since 1900 is held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 straight.
Manager Pedro Grifol reacts in the ninth inning after the White Sox lost their 21st straight game. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
The maximum in the Major Leagues belongs to the Louisville Colonels of 1889, an American Association team, that lost 26 consecutive games during a 27–111 season.
Editorial Selections
Chicago, which last won on July 10 in the first game of a doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins, fell to 27-88 and is on pace to finish 38-124, which would be its most losses since the Cleveland Spiders The 1899 National League season finished 20-134. The White Sox have been held to one run or none 32 times.
“We talk about it every day, everyone knows what it is,” he said. Chicago manager, Pedro Grifolafter the loss. “It’s 21 in a row, it sucks, it hurts, it stings, whatever… Like I said, it’s not for lack of effort. Nobody wants to come out here and lose.”
Comparing themselves to the rest of baseball after the All-Star break is even more dismal for the White Sox. Sixteen of the losses in the streak came after the break, and, according to ESPN Stats & Information, every other team in the majors has at least four wins in that span. Tyler Nevin’s sacrifice fly in the first inning put the A’s ahead, but Andrew Benintendi tied the score with an RBI single off JP Sears (9-8) in the fourth.
JJ Bleday doubled in the bottom half off Ky Bush (0-1), a 24-year-old left-hander making his major league debut, Zack Gelof walked and Darell Hernaiz was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Schuemann singled between shortstop and third that bounced into left field for a 3-1 lead.
Lawrence Butler added a homer in the sixth off Chad Kuhl, his 16th homer this season. Gelof added a run in the eighth when he raced home from first as Jared Shuster’s throw bounced off catcher Korey Lee as Schuemann struck out. Lee looked toward Gelof at third and threw to first baseman Andrew Vaughn for the out, and Gelof raced home as Vaughn’s throw sailed over Lee.
Sears allowed three hits in seven innings with five strikeouts and one walk, improving to 5-1 in his last six decisions.
Austin Adams and Tyler Ferguson finished a four-hit game that took just 2 hours and 15 minutes.
“Today we bounced back against a team that’s been struggling lately,” Schuemann said in his postgame on-field interview on NBC Sports California. “So it was important to come here and not take them lightly. That was a big key for us.”
Bush allowed three runs on two hits and five walks in four innings with three strikeouts. He played college baseball at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga.
On Tuesday, the White Sox look to end the skid with rookie right-hander Jonathan Cannon (1-5, 4.11 ERA) on the mound, facing Oakland right-hander Ross Stripling (2-10, 5.64).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
