The Athletics’ skid stretched to seven straight on Saturday, and this one got ugly fast. Chicago rolled to a 14-1 win at Rate Field, burying the A’s behind a huge middle-to-late burst from a White Sox lineup that kept stacking hits once the floodgates opened.
Jacob Lopez started for the A’s and worked through the first five Chicago batters before handing things off to Aaron Civale. For a while, Civale held things together.
Then the fifth inning turned into a mess. Chase Meidroth doubled on a sharp line drive to left, Andrew Benintendi followed with a double that brought Meidroth home, and Kyle Teel drew a walk.
Tristan Peters then singled in Benintendi, Sam Antonacci singled to right to score Teel, and after Elvis Alvarado came on with no outs, Miguel Vargas added a sacrifice fly to center that plated Peters. Just like that, Chicago was up 4-0.
Sean Burke had kept the A’s quiet up to that point, allowing only two hits before the seventh. Then Tyler Soderstrom finally got Oakland on the board with a solo shot to right, his 14th homer of the season.
The White Sox answered with a hammer in the bottom of the seventh. Justin Sterner got hit hard as Kyle Teel walked, Tristan Peters launched a homer to score him, and the inning kept snowballing from there.
Sam Antonacci walked, Munetaka Murakami doubled in Antonacci, and Miguel Vargas followed with a ground rule double that scored Murakami. Mason Barnett entered with the A’s already down 8-1 and no outs.
Andrew Benintendi then doubled in three more runs, and Peters capped the inning with a triple to complete the cycle. The last White Sox player to hit for the cycle before that was José Abreu, who did it on September 9, 2017, against the San Francisco Giants.
Chicago wasn’t done. Carlos Cortes took over in the eighth, struck out Murakami, then watched Miguel Vargas homer to left. Chase Meidroth later singled to drive in Montgomery and close the scoring at 14-1.
In Other News...
Shea Langeliers Just Reached Rare Air In A's History
Shea Langeliers has become one of the more important success stories to come out of the Matt Olson trade, the kind of player Oakland hoped it was getting when it brought him over from Atlanta. Since arriving, he has settled in as the Athletics starting catcher and kept taking steps forward, turning promise into production while becoming a fixture in the middle of the lineup.
Now he has added a rare place in franchise history to the rsum. Langeliers is one of only nine As players since 1968 to put together at least four straight 20-homer seasons, and he is the only one to do it as a full-time catcher. For a club that has spent years searching for stability and impact at that position, his rise gives Oakland something it has not had in a long time, even if the bigger question around the roster still hangs in the background. [Read more 🡒]
A's Suddenly Face A Brutal White Sox Test During This Skid
The Athletics have spent the last week trying to stop a slide that has now reached seven straight losses, and the timing has made things even uglier. Sweeps by the Marlins and Tigers already put the club on the back foot, and the White Sox have only deepened the frustration with a lopsided result in the series opener. The bigger issue has been on the mound, where the pitching staff has been forced to lean heavily on the bullpen while young ace Gage Jump and the rest of the rotation have struggled to give the team the kind of innings it needs.
That leaves the final two games of the set in a tricky spot, with limited bullpen options and a lineup that needs more help to keep pace. Oakland has been waiting for more from its offense, but the pressure has only grown with Zack Gelof on the injured list and Nick Kurtz trending toward one, which makes the margin for error even thinner. The A's still have a chance to salvage something from the series, but they will need better length from the starters and a few more timely swings to avoid letting this skid get any worse. [Read more 🡒]