The Chicago White Sox avoided a record-breaking 121st loss for the second straight game, beating the Angels 4-3 on Wednesday night on Andrew Benintendi’s 10th-inning single.
Benintendi delivered the go-ahead hit for the second time in as many games when he lined a one-out single to left-center against José Quijada (2-1), scoring designated runner Miguel Vargas from second. On Tuesday, Benintendi hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning to lift Chicago to a 3-2 win.
Korey Lee gave the White Sox a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the second Wednesday night. After Taylor Ward tied it in the fourth with a two-run single, Lenyn Sosa put Chicago back on top with a tiebreaking solo drive off José Suarez in the bottom half.
The Angels had runners on the corners in the seventh against Enyel De Los Santos but came away empty-handed when Kevin Pillar grounded into a double play.
A sparse crowd was largely quiet until the eighth, when fans started to voice their displeasure with chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. They chanted “Sell the team!” and “Jerry sucks!” and the chorus only grew louder as the Angels tied it on Michael Stefanic’s bunt single off Justin Anderson.
The Angels (63-95) matched a franchise record with their 95th loss, a mark shared by the 1968 and 1980 teams. Chicago (38-120) is tied with the 1962 New York Mets for the modern major league record for losses in a season. The White Sox play the Angels again Thursday before finishing with three games at Detroit.
White Sox starter Davis Martin gave up two runs and three hits in 3-2/3 innings. The right-hander walked a career-high five and hit a batter before exiting with the bases loaded in the fourth. Michael Soroka came in and gave up Ward’s two-run single, the only hit he gave up over 2-1/3 innings.
Suarez went five innings for the Angels, giving up three runs and five hits.
Chicago had never lost more than 106 prior to this year. The White Sox passed that mark with plenty of time to spare when the Mets beat them on Sept. 1.
Chicago tied the American League record of 119 losses at San Diego on Saturday and matched the ’62 Mets the following day. But with a chance to lose more games than any team since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders went 20-134, the White Sox put history on hold the last two nights.