Zack Gelof must now how it feels to be invincible.
In the eighth inning, the White Sox should have had him out at three different bases after reaching on a leadoff walk. Korey Lee's throw beat him to second on a stolen base attempt, but Lenyn Sosa did not get his glove low enough, and it glanced off the edge of the leather and hit Gelof in the hip.
Gavin Sheets' throw beat Gelof to third when he tagged up on a fly ball to right field, but Miguel Vargas set up like a first baseman for the throw, and thus was not in a position to adjust to a hop that was a bit higher than he anticipated, and he had no momentum for applying a quick tag.
So Gelof was essentially playing with house money when Max Schuemann swung over a 1-2 Jared Shuster changeup in the dirt. It bounced far enough away from Korey Lee that Schuemann ran to first, but close enough that Lee had time to look at Gelof before throwing to first base.
One problem: Gelof didn't care. He broke for home right after Lee angled his body to throw to first, and while Andrew Vaughn's throw would have beat him to the plate, it was off target, and Gelof effectively stole a run.
watching the white sox. pic.twitter.com/f3XgSbvqQT
— Jim Margalus (@SoxMachine) August 6, 2024
It was a completely unnecessary run, mind you. At the time, the Athletics led 4-1 in the eighth inning against a team that was 0-54 when trailing after six, but then again, it must feel pretty nice for an Oakland team to play somebody that even it doesn't have to take that seriously.
The White Sox have now lost 21 games in a row, tying the American League record and putting them within two games of the modern MLB mark.
Ky Bush debuted in this one, and it could've gone worse. He walked three batters in the first inning, but allowed just a sacrifice fly. He loaded the bases with one out after a double, walk and hit by pitch in the fourth inning, and while he gave up a two-run single to Schuemann, Corey Julks made a great leaping catch on the warning track in right field to rob Miguel Andujar of a two-run double, sparing Bush further damage.
In between, he pitched a 1-2-3 second and pitched around Brent Rooker with two outs in a scoreless third. His final line (4 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 K) reflects somebody who beat himself more than the A's did. When he set up counts in his favor, his fastball had enough hop for unsquare contact, and his slider was effective against hitters on either side of the plate, but there were too many noncompetitive sequences for it to matter.
Also contributing to it not mattering: the White Sox offense. It totaled just four hits and a walk against J.P. Sears and two Oakland relievers, who combined to throw only 117 pitches. The Sox were able to sequence two of their better at-bats when Andrew Vaughn doubled with one out in the fourth, and scored on Andrew Benintendi's single through the middle to tie the game at 1.
Otherwise, the lone highlight was Miguel Vargas' hustle double off on a decent Austin Adams low-and-away slider with two outs in the eighth. Unfortunately, it was in the same inning where Lee and Sosa struck out on sliders that started in the left-handed batter's box.
Bullet points:
*Vargas made a nice ranging play to his left, and also backed off a play to his left that Brooks Baldwin was able to convert after a long throw, so there's that.
*The A's scored five runs on four hits. Nine walks and an HBP in eight innings helped
*The White Sox fell to 0-14 on games played on a Monday, making them Major League Baseball's Garfield.
