CHICAGO – Andy Ibanez hit a home run and three RBIs as the Detroit Tigers sent the Chicago White Sox to their 100th loss with a 9-4 victory on Sunday.
Andrew Vaughn hit a double, a home run and two RBIs for the White Sox (31-100), who need to go 12-19 to avoid tying the 1962 New York Mets, who were 40-120-1 and hold the modern major league record for most losses in a season. Chicago will not break the all-time record held by the Cleveland Spiders, who went 20-134 in 1899.
In MLB history, only the 1916 Philadelphia A’s, who had a record of 29-100-1, reached 100 losses in fewer games than the White Sox.
“We’ve talked about it all year. It’s just a dead horse now. We’re not where we want to be,” White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi said. “(Interim manager Grady Sizemore) said it best: ‘If you don’t win the last game of the year, it doesn’t matter.’ So I think everyone has moved on.”
Colt Keith had three hits and three RBIs for the Tigers (65-66), who have won four of five games. The two teams will conclude their four-game series on Monday.
Chicago has lost 100 or more games six times in franchise history, including consecutive seasons for the first time. They went 61-101 last season under coach Pedro Grifol, who was fired on August 8. Chicago is 3-11 under interim coach Grady Sizemore.
“We know where we stand,” said Benintendi. “We know it’s not good.”
The White Sox lost 106 games in 1970 – their worst performance ever. Their worst winning percentage is .325 (49-102-1 in 1932).
Bryan Sammons (1-1) allowed one run and three hits in 4 1/3 innings to secure the win for Detroit.
“It wasn’t the most efficient day on the mound,” said Tigers manager AJ Hinch. “But offensively we did a lot of really positive things.”
Jonathan Cannon (2-8) allowed five runs and eight hits in four innings for the White Sox.
Benintendi and Vaughn hit two consecutive doubles against opener Beau Brieske to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Detroit’s Kerry Carpenter hit a double, reached third base on an error by center fielder Dominic Fletcher and scored on Keith’s single, cutting the lead to 2-1 in the third inning. Chicago made four errors.
Vaughn hit his 15th home run in the third inning, a solo hit against Sammons, increasing Chicago’s lead to 3-1.
Zach McKinstry hit a single, stole second base and scored on a triple by Parker Meadows to make it 3-2 in the fourth inning.
The Tigers scored three runs in the fifth inning to take a 5-3 lead. Carpenter, Keith and Jace Jung hit back-to-back singles to tie the game before pinch hitter Ibanez hit a ground ball into fielder’s choice and Trey Sweeney singled to score the other runs.
“Every inning, you give yourself a chance by creating opportunities,” Hinch said. “You have to build on that and just keep going.”
Ibanez hit a two-run homer against Enyel De Los Santos in the seventh inning and Keith added a two-run double in the eighth inning.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
