August 7th, 2024
Sonja Chen
@sonjamchenOAKLAND -- The White Sox were one loss away from making the wrong kind of history, entering Tuesday night's contest at the Coliseum having dropped an American League record-tying 21 games in a row.
It was all but impossible to ignore the historic midsummer skid, as the A's even snuck in a tongue-in-cheek jab during warmups, playing Taylor Swift's "22" as the White Sox starting lineup was announced prior to first pitch.
But Chicago avoided standing alone in AL history with a 5-1 win over Oakland on Tuesday night. The victory broke up the White Sox franchise-record losing streak that was tied with the 1988 Orioles for the longest in AL history and two shy of matching the '61 Phillies' Modern Era record.
"Anytime you win, it's great. Anytime you win when you lose 21 in a row, it's even better," manager Pedro Grifol said. "I'm proud of these guys. They kept going. They just keep coming to the ballpark every day to play hard, and they care."
Jonathan Cannon was the stopper Chicago needed, striking out five across six innings and limiting the A's offense to a Zack Gelof solo home run. The White Sox had lost his previous five outings (four starts) despite the rookie right-hander posting a 3.48 ERA across 31 innings in that span.
"I think Cannon's got that 'it' factor, and what I mean by that is he's got that will to succeed," Grifol said. "It almost looked like this wasn't going to continue on his watch. That's what it felt like.
"It almost felt like, 'I got the ball today, and this [crap] ends right now."
Cannon also helped Chicago end a 14-game losing streak earlier in the season, tossing three scoreless innings in relief of Garrett Crochet on June 7. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 2024 White Sox, 2021 Orioles, 1935 Boston Braves and 1911 Boston Rustlers are the only teams with multiple losing streaks of at least 14 games in a single season in the Modern Era (since 1901).
"I guess it's bittersweet. It's nice that it's over, but it sucks that we got to that point to start with," Cannon said. "We're just happy to be in the winner's circle again and look to keep building off it."
Andrew Benintendi's 10th homer of the season -- a two-run shot off A's right-hander Ross Stripling in the fourth inning -- ended up being all his team would need. The White Sox tacked on another pair of insurance runs in the sixth on Andrew Vaughn's RBI single and a wild pitch from A's reliever Michel Otañez that allowed Brooks Baldwin to score from third.
"You try and get there mentally and understand they’re a team that we feel like we should beat," Stripling said. "Obviously, they’ve lost 20-something in a row. … You understand that they are certainly aware of the history that is chasing them down and how badly they want to avoid it, so you know that makes them a dangerous team. They’re playing with an edge, trying to avoid that at all costs."
John Brebbia pitched the final of three perfect innings from the bullpen, inducing a flyout to Benintendi in left to put the White Sox back in the win column for the first time since July 10, when they took the first game of a doubleheader against the Twins before falling in the nightcap to begin the skid.
"Pretty chill," Brebbia said of the reaction in the clubhouse, with his trademark dry humor. "We've got a day game tomorrow, so guys are super focused on getting some sleep, making sure they're eating right and supplementing properly. They miss out on their nutrition. So we're pretty locked in for tomorrow, for sure."
While there was certainly excitement among the team, from an enthusiastic first postgame handshake line in 27 days to muffled sounds of celebration through the clubhouse doors before it opened to media, relief appeared to be the prevailing emotion for the White Sox.
Grifol had expected as much before his club broke through for a win, and though the White Sox seemed to be in control for most of Tuesday's game, he didn't allow that relief to sink in until all was official.
"I started feeling that when we were shaking hands," Grifol said. "Especially at this level, you've just got to keep going. It's hard to win a Major League game, obviously -- we proved that today, and we proved that over the last three weeks."
