It's over. The White Sox avoided outright possession of American League ignominy, ending their 21-game losing streak in surprisingly straightforward fashion with a 5-1 victory at the Coliseum.
Jonathan Cannon lived up to his billing as the best possible option, pitching six strong innings to get the White Sox two-thirds of the way there. The offense needed a few innings to get going, but kept tacking on runs once it started and provided additional margin for a bullpen that turned out not to need any of it.
It all seemed so simple tonight, when since July 10 it's been anything but. The White Sox can rest easy knowing they only tied the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the longest losing streak in AL history, while the 1961 Phillies can pop open the opposite of champagne, with their 23-game streak still unmatched, at least for another 27 days or so.
On another night, Jonathan Cannon might get knocked out before three innings. He loaded the bases on a hit by pitch, walk and single with two outs in the first, but danced out of danger with a flyout. In the second, he gave up a one-out single and walk, but Nicky Lopez raced a grounder to second himself to start a 6-3 double play.
But Cannon eventually found it, and while he didn't complete a 1-2-3 inning until his sixth and final inning of work, he made the A's earn their way on every time. Zack Gelof's solo shot in the fourth inning accounted for the only damage, as well as the only non-single.
Gelof's shot was the only sign of potential demons, and mostly because it followed Andrew Benintendi's two-run shot off Ross Stripling in the top of the inning to immediately dampen enthusiasm.
But the Sox enhanced the margin in the sixth, when Miguel Vargas drew Stripling's only walk to start the inning, and they capitalized on the opening. Brooks Baldwin dropped a single to left, and two batters later, Andrew Vaughn shot a single to center to score Vargas. Baldwin took third, and while Andrew Benintendi struck out against new reliever Michel Otañez to miss an RBI opportunity, #WILDPITCHOFFENSE took care of it. Pedro Grifol gave Andrew Vaughn to green light on a 1-2 count on Lenyn Sosa, perhaps with the hopes of creating the possibility for a double steal, but instead, Otañez bounced the slider, and Shea Langeliers' backhand attempt was a poor choice for blocking.
That made it 4-1, and Lenyn Sosa kicked the game out of a save situation with an RBI single in the ninth.
It wasn't a save situation because the bullpen didn't make it one. After Cannon completed six innings on 96 pitches, Dominic Leone made his first appearance since May 20 and got three groundouts. Chad Kuhl made it five in a row before a flyout ended a perfect eighth, and John Brebbia used lazy pop flies to finish the ninth. That's nine up, nine down for a beleaguered bullpen, even without a strikeout.
Bullet points:
*Cannon lowered his ERA to 3.91 while picking up his second MLB victory. He only got nine whiffs, but seven of them came were over his final three innings, and he recorded four of his five strikeouts over the last two, when his changeup helped widen the plate.
*Benintendi went 2-for-4 with his 10th homer and 13th double. His OPS is back over .600 (.606).
*Vargas drew both of the White Sox's walks from leadoff spot.
*The White Sox went 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position; the A's were 0-for-3.
