OAKLAND, Calif. — The Chicago White Sox lost their 21st straight game, tying 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 slide 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.
Measuring up against the rest of baseball, after the All-Star break, is even more dreary for the White Sox. Sixteen of the 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.
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 last six decisions.
Austin Adams and Tyler Ferguson finished a four-hitter that took just 2 hours, 15 minutes.
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 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.
