Rookie Jonathan Cannon turned his second career win into a memorable one Tuesday night, helping snap the Chicago White Sox’s record-tying, 21-game losing streak with six strong innings in a 5-1 road victory over the Oakland Athletics.
Andrew Benintendi hit a two-run homer to get Chicago on the board and scored the game’s final run after a double in the ninth inning, sending the White Sox to their first win since July 10 against the Minnesota Twins.
The victory left Chicago in a tie with the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the longest losing streak in American League history, two defeats shy of the modern-day major-league mark set by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1961.
Cannon (2-5) did most of the heavy lifting, limiting the A’s to one run and six hits in his six innings. He walked two and struck out five.
The 24-year-old was rewarded with his first win since June 18. He had been winless in his last seven outings, including six starts.
Benintendi gave the White Sox a lead they never relinquished with his two-run shot off A’s starter Ross Stripling (2-11) in the fourth. The two-out blast, his 10th homer of the season, also scored Luis Robert Jr., who had singled.
The A’s trimmed their deficit in half when Zack Gelof drilled his 14th homer in the bottom of the inning.
But that was the last of the home team’s scoring against Cannon, Dominic Leone, Chad Kuhl and John Brebbia. The relievers combined for three perfect innings, recording three outs apiece.
The White Sox began a run-away in the sixth when Andrew Vaughn singled in a run and, two batters later, Brooks Baldwin scored on a wild pitch, making it 4-1.
Lenyn Sosa capped the scoring in the ninth when his single scored Benintendi, whose night included a double, home run, two RBIs and two runs.
Baldwin also finished with two hits for the White Sox, who ended a 13-game road losing streak that had dated back to July 5 at Miami.
Gelof, Miguel Andujar and Brent Rooker had two hits apiece for the A’s, who lost for the third time in their last four games.
Stripling was pulled after 5 1/3 innings, charged with four runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out two.
-Field Level Media