For at least a few hours, the White Sox don’t have to think about their march to infamy.
By beating the Athletics 4-3 on Sunday, the Sox won a series for the first time since June 28-30 against the Rockies. And they won consecutive games for the first time since a three-game run from June 27-29.
“It’s always nice when you get that win on travel day,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “You make it a little of a happy flight and take some momentum into the next series. We’re going to try to build off that and keep going.”
Even with a little momentum, the road trip could be historic for the 35-115 Sox, who had dropped 20 consecutive series.
If the Sox go 1-5 on their West Coast swing against the Angels and Padres, they will have 120 losses to tie the modern-day record previously held by the 1962 Mets. A winless trip will give them 121 defeats to own the mark outright.
The record for the worst winning percentage (.235, set by the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics) also will be in play.
The Sox are at .233 and need to win four of their last 12 games to avoid that dubious achievement.
The Sox also have other goals.
“Everybody’s got to be selfish about finishing strong for the team and for themselves,” said Gavin Sheets, who hit a two-run home run in the first inning. “This is a business. We’re pros and we’ve got to go out every single day and we’ve got a lot of events left this season.”
For the Sox to steer clear of the 1962 Mets and 1916 Athletics, they’ll need more days like Sunday.
Making his first career start, Sean Burke went five innings, allowing two runs and five hits. He almost made a splash in the first when he struck out Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker on three pitches each and worked an 0-2 count against JJ Bleday. One pitch from an immaculate inning, Burke threw a high and outside curveball.
“I tried to overcook the curveball a little bit and left it up, but I was just happy to get through it scoreless,” Burke said.
Burke cruised through the first four innings and got two outs to begin the fifth but walked Butler and then gave up Rooker’s 37th home run of the season. That was not enough to ruin Burke’s or the Sox’ day.
“First and foremost, just getting a team win is awesome,” Burke said. “We always want to go out and win a series, so to be able to do so this weekend. But overall, it’s just an awesome feeling. It’s awesome to contribute and get a win that way.”
With the Sox ahead 3-2, Bryan Ramos added a solo home run in the sixth. That proved necessary after Shea Langeliers’ pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth against Sox reliever Fraser Ellard.
Ellard recovered to get Nick Allen to fly out to right, and the Sox earned a win.
“That was a big part of the game,” Ramos said of his homer. “It was a close game and the team won. That’s important, but overall, we played a really good game today.”
Sizemore and the Sox want to keep that going.
“We want to finish playing our best version of baseball,” Sizemore said. “We’ve been sneaking some wins here and there and to get a series win here, it’s right back to the same mindset. Let’s go out there, get the first game against Anaheim and try to get another series win.”