OAKLAND, Calif. — The Chicago White Sox lost their 21st straight game, tying the American League record with a 5-1 defeat to the Oakland Athletics on Monday night as Max Schuemann hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the fourth inning.
Chicago is on the longest losing streak since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles lost 21 in a row. The NL record since 1900 is held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 straight.
The major league low belongs to the 1889 Louisville Colonels, an American Association team that lost 26 consecutive games during a 27-111 season.
Chicago, which last won on July 10 in a doubleheader opener against Minnesota, dropped to 27-88 and is on pace to finish 38-124, which would be the most losses since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League went 20-134. The White Sox have been held to one run or none 32 times.
“We talk about it every day, everybody knows what it is,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said after the loss. “It’s 21 in a row, it sucks, it’s painful, it hurts, you name it. … Like I said, it’s not for lack of effort. Nobody wants to come out here and lose.”
Measuring up against the rest of baseball after the All-Star break is even more dreary for the White Sox. Sixteen of their losses in the streak have come post-break, and according to ESPN Stats & Information research, every other team in the majors has at least four victories in that span.
“You just try to turn the page,” outfielder Corey Julks said. “Look forward to the next day, bounce back, don’t dwell on the loss, just try to learn from them and get better each day. … We’re just trying to rally as a team and find a way to get a win.”
Former White Sox great Frank Thomas, a Hall of Fame first baseman, was on the team’s postgame show on NBC Sports Chicago Monday, and said he would throw a postgame tantrum with reporters if he were managing this team.
“It’s time to snap,” Thomas said. “That’s the only way through the players right now. Snap. I’m serious. I don’t want to hear no more: ‘We’re trying.’ No more: ‘They’re working hard every day.’ No, it’s time to snap. It’s time to kick over the spread.”
Thomas played for the White Sox from 1990 to 2005 as part of a 19-season career. Now 56, the two-time AL MVP hit 521 home runs, including 448 for Chicago. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2014.
“I’m not being nice. Kick the door. Slam the door! ‘Get out of here! I’m tired of answering questions,'” Thomas suggested would be his reaction as manager. “‘We’ve lost 21 in — we’re the laughingstock of baseball. You think I don’t know that?'”
Tyler Nevin‘s first-inning sacrifice fly put the A’s ahead, but Andrew Benintendi tied the score with an RBI single against 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 big league debut, Zack Gelof walked and Darell Hernaiz was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Schuemann grounded a single between shortstop and third that bounced into left for a 3-1 lead.
Lawrence Butler added a sixth-inning homer against Chad Kuhl, his 16th home run this season. Gelof added a run in the eighth when he sprinted home from first when Jared Shuster‘s pitch bounced away from 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 ran home as Vaughn’s throw skipped past Lee.
Sears allowed three hits in seven innings with five strikeouts and a walk, improving to 5-1 in his past six decisions.
“Our whole plan coming into this series was to continue our focus,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay, whose club just dropped a weekend series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Focus on the details of the game, play the game the way we know we’re capable of, and we did that tonight.”
Austin Adams and Tyler Ferguson finished a four-hitter that took just 2 hours, 15 minutes.
“We bounced back today against a team that has been struggling lately,” Schuemann said in his postgame, on-field interview on NBC Sports California. “So, it was important to come out here and not take them lightly. That was a big key for us.”
Bush allowed three runs, two hits and five walks over four innings with three strikeouts. He played college baseball at Saint Mary’s College in nearby Moraga.
On Tuesday, the White Sox will give it another shot with rookie right-hander Jonathan Cannon (1-5, 4.11 ERA) on the mound, opposed by Oakland righty Ross Stripling (2-10, 5.64).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
