The All-Star break cannot arrive fast enough for the Athletics.
The A’s were routed 14-1 by the Chicago White Sox on Friday at Rate Field, stretching their losing streak to seven games and continuing a slide that has pushed them further down a soft AL West. The Athletics fell to 41-53, seven games behind first-place Texas and only 3.5 games ahead of the last-place Angels.
Close, then gone
For four innings, the A’s kept the game scoreless.
Jacob Lopez opened with 1 2/3 clean innings before Aaron Civale took over. Civale stranded a double in the third and worked around another in the fourth, keeping Chicago off the board.
However, the fifth inning changed everything.
Chase Meidroth doubled to open the inning, and Andrew Benintendi followed with an RBI double. Then Kyle Teel walked, Tristan Peters singled in another run and Sam Antonacci added an RBI single.
Elvis Alvarado entered with two runners on and nobody out. He limited the damage, but Miguel Vargas still lifted a sacrifice fly that pushed Chicago’s lead to 4-0.
No room for error
The A’s offense never gave the pitching staff much margin.
Sean Burke held the Athletics to one run on four hits over seven innings. He struck out nine, walked none and kept the A’s from building any real pressure.
The Athletics had their best early chance in the sixth, when Joshua Kuroda-Grauer singled and Henry Bolte was hit by a pitch. But Jeff McNeil grounded into a double play, and Lawrence Butler struck out to end the inning.
That summed up the night. The A’s went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left only three runners on base.
Soderstrom breaks through
Tyler Soderstrom gave the A’s their only run in the seventh.
Soderstrom drove a solo homer to right field off Burke, his 14th of the season, cutting the deficit to 4-1. It was the only swing that gave the Athletics anything to take from the night.
Jacob Wilson followed with his second single of the game, but Joey Meneses struck out to end the inning.
Then the game got away completely.
Seventh-inning collapse
Justin Sterner opened the bottom of the seventh and did not record an out.
Teel walked, and Peters followed with a two-run homer to right-center. Antonacci walked, Munetaka Murakami doubled him home and Vargas added a ground-rule double to make it 8-1.
Mason Barnett entered, but Chicago kept piling on. Braden Montgomery singled, Meidroth walked and Benintendi cleared the bases with a double to left.
Then Peters tripled in Benintendi, completing the cycle and pushing the White Sox lead to 12-1.
It was the kind of inning that has defined the A’s recent slide. One bad stretch became too much to survive.
Cortes takes the mound
The eighth inning showed how far the night had tilted.
Carlos Cortes entered as a position-player pitcher in the eighth and handled the final inning for the A’s. Vargas homered off him, and Meidroth added an RBI single after a Lawrence Butler fielding error.
Cortes was charged with two runs, one earned, on three hits. The inning pushed Chicago’s lead to 14-1.
Numbers that mattered
The White Sox finished with 14 runs on 15 hits. The Athletics had one run on five hits and committed one error.
Wilson went 2-for-3 for the A’s. Soderstrom homered, while Butler and Kuroda-Grauer had the other hits.
For Chicago, Peters went 4-for-4 with a double, triple, homer, four RBIs and two runs. Benintendi drove in four, while Vargas went 3-for-4 with a homer, two doubles and three RBIs.
Civale took the loss after allowing four runs on six hits over 2 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.
In the end, the A’s were not just beaten. They were overwhelmed by a first-place White Sox team while continuing to drift toward the break.
Up next
The Athletics continue the series against the White Sox on Saturday at Rate Field. First pitch is scheduled for 11:10 a.m. PDT.
Gage Jump gets the ball for the A’s. The left-hander enters at 3-3 with a 3.77 ERA and 41 strikeouts.
Across from him, Chicago turns to left-hander Bryan Hudson, who enters at 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA and 39 strikeouts.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Las Vegas Aces, Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
