The Chicago White Sox tied the American League record with their 119th loss Saturday night, as Xander Bogaerts and Elias Diaz each hit two-run homers to help the San Diego Padres win 6-2 and move closer to a playoff spot.
The White Sox (36-119) tied the AL record set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers, who completed 43-119. One more defeat for Chicago in its final seven games would tie the 1962 expansion New York Mets’ post-1900 record of 120 losses, and two more would set a new record. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders set the major league record for defeats with 20-134.
Chris Flexen (2-15) remains winless in his last 23 starts for the White Sox, who lost their 20th consecutive road series. According to ESPN Research, Chicago is presently 9-48 since the All-Star break and on track for 124 defeats.
“They’ve been playing some good baseball these last couple of days,” Bogaerts said of Chicago. “We obviously want to win every game by a large margin, but these guys are fighting. They’re attempting to be spoilers. Nothing has been simple for us in the last several days. It’s been good to be able to fight for it more than most people imagined.”
David Peralta also homered for San Diego (89-66), which held a two-game lead over Arizona for the top National League wild-card slot.
The Padres’ magic number was cut to two as they secured their second playoff appearance in three seasons. They got no support from the Atlanta Braves or the New York Mets, both of whom won on Saturday.
Bogaerts gave the Padres a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a blast to left-center field with no outs off Flexen. Bogaerts’ 11th homer came off a leadoff single by youngster Jackson Merrill.
“It is a good lineup,” Chicago manager Grady Sizemore said of the Padres. “You make mistakes over the plate, and they might hurt you.”
Peralta homered with one out in the third for his eighth. Merrill, who is regarded the front-runner for National League Rookie of the Year, delivered an RBI single in the fifth inning.
Diaz launched a two-run homer in the eighth inning off former Padres reliever Enyel De Los Santos. This was his sixth of the season.
In the sixth, the White Sox’s Lenyn Sosa got an RBI single off Martin Perez (5-5). Bryan Ramos earned a bases-loaded walk off Padres reliever Jason Adam in the eighth.
Perez held Chicago to one run and two hits in 5⅓ innings, striking out six and walking three. Tanner Scott got five outs for his 22nd save.
Flexen allowed four runs and eight hits over five innings, striking out three and walking two.
The White Sox will start right-hander Sean Burke (1-0, 2.25 ERA) on Sunday against Padres righty Yu Darvish (6-3, 3.21).
“Hits were hard to come by tonight,” Sizemore explained. “But we had good at-bats.”
