White Sox fall to A’s to tie AL record with 21st consecutive loss

Not even the last-place A’s could stop the streak.

The Chicago White Sox fell, 5-1 to the Oakland A’s on Monday for their 21st consecutive loss. The losing streak tied the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the longest in American League history.

With two more consecutive losses, the White Sox would tie the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies for the longest losing streak in MLB history at 23 games. They have two games remaining against the A’s to keep that from happening.

The White Sox are now 0-17 since the All-Star break with four of their previous five series coming against the playoff-contending Kansas City Royals (twice), Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins. The A’s are the second-worst team in the AL ahead of the White Sox and present Chicago with its best chance in a while at stopping the streak.

Will the White Sox end up as the worst team in MLB history?

The A’s (47-67) aren’t within sniffing distance of the postseason. But they’re a lot closer than the 27-88 (.235) White Sox, who are challenging the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117, .235) for the worst record in terms of win percentage in the history of MLB’s modern era that started in 1901.

The expansion 1962 New York Mets played eight more games than those Athletics and hold the record for most losses in the modern era with a 40-120-1 (.248) record. That infamous record is also within striking distance of the White Sox.

The White Sox initially broke a franchise record for consecutive losses last week with their 16th straight in a 4-3 defeat to the Kansas City Royals. They’ve since reeled off five more and are showing no signs of finding the win column.

Monday’s game got off to a bad start for the White Sox and continued to spiral. Chicago starter Ky Bush issued three walks to load the bases in the first inning then allowed a sacrifice fly to Tyler Nevin for a 1-0 A’s lead.

Chicago limited the first-inning damage to one run, and White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI single in the fourth. That was all the White Sox scored. The A’s tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth then added single runs in the sixth and eighth innings to run away with the game.

Bush took the loss while allowing two hits and three earned runs in four inning while walking five.

White Sox hitters went 4 for 31 (.129) at the plate and managed to draw just one walk. The A’s also managed just four hits (4 of 26) but drew nine walks and converted their baserunners into five runs. It was another impotent offensive outing for Chicago typical of a season where it has posted a -251 run differential. The Colorado Rockies have the next-worst record (41-72) and run differential (-180) in baseball.

This isn’t the first ignominious losing streak of the season for the White Sox. They previously set a single-season franchise record with their 14th consecutive loss on June 7. These White Sox are long past wishing that was the worst part of their season.