The White Sox hadn't won a series -- or even consecutive games -- since taking the first two against the Rockies in a three-game set at the end of June.
To the relief of everybody involved, they White Sox won't be able to say that at the end of the season.
Sean Burke came within one pitch of an immaculate inning in a scoreless top of the first, the White Sox tagged JP Sears for three runs in the bottom of the inning, and that set the course for a relatively straightforward victory in a rubber match. This snaps a streak of 20 consecutive series losses, which is the third kind of "20 consecutive losses" streak they've had to snap this year. Previous ones included an American League-record tying losing streak, and losses in Chris Flexen appearances.
If you wanted to conduct a gift horse's dental exam, you could say that it should've been easier.
They looked like a credible MLB team in that first inning by the way they led Oakland into making mistakes. Luis Robert Jr. drew a one-out walk, and while Sears picked him off, Robert cut off Tyler Soderstrom's angle to second, took the throw off his shoulder, then took third as it caromed into left field. Andrew Benintendi couldn't score Robert, but Andrew Vaughn fouled off four consecutive 1-2 pitches, took a changeup out of the zone, then flipped another changeup inside the right-field line for an RBI single. Gavin Sheets then jumped on a middle-middle 1-0 fastball for his 46th career homer, but just his second off a lefty, to make it a 3-0 game.
Sears threw 31 pitches in that first inning. He then threw just 55 pitches over the next five, and he would've thrown a quality start had Bryan Ramos not squeezed in a solo shot off the top of the left-center fence with two outs in the sixth.
If you automatically account for an inability to sustain offensive pressure, then everything else received a passing grade. They took a lead, and while they occasionally jeopardized a lead, it's because the A's earned it.
Burke almost made it through five scoreless innings in his first MLB start. He threw strikes as well as he could be expected to do, had both his slider and his curveball at his disposal, and averaged 95 mph with his fastball, so he had little trouble getting through the Oakland lineup twice. The third time presented a challenge, as the top of the lineup greeted him with a walk, homer and double at the start of the third time through, but he stranded JJ Bleday at second with a groundout, and that left him in line to pick up his first MLB victory.
The bullpen saw to it. Jared Shuster and Prelander Berroa combined for three scoreless innings to get to the ninth, and while Fraser Ellard took advantage of Ramos' solo shot by allowing one to Shea Langeliers with two outs in the ninth, he still understood the assignment well enough, because he didn't make Langeliers the tying run beforehand. He sealed Burke's first win with his first save, and the first by any White Sox pitcher since Chad Kuhl on Aug. 16.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox have recorded 19 saves by nine different pitchers.
*Ramos had a big afternoon, going 2-for-3 with the homer, a double and a walk. The only blemish was a 102-mph one-hopper that got through him, but Burke stranded it.
*Jacob Amaya would've been called for interference on Corey Julks' popout to second that ended the second, because he clipped Zach Gelof as he settled in front of it. Gelof made the catch, making it moot.
*The White Sox now have to 7-5 over their last 12 games to avoid setting the record for most losses in a modern MLB season.
