The Chicago White Sox tied the American League record with their 119th loss on Saturday night. Xander Bogaerts and Elias Díaz both hit two-run home runs to lead the San Diego Padres to a 6-2 victory, bringing them closer to a playoff spot.
The White Sox (36-119) matched the AL record set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers, who finished the season with a record of 43-119. If Chicago loses one more time in their final seven games, they will tie the all-time record of 120 losses, which was set by the 1962 expansion New York Mets. Since the All-Star break, the White Sox have gone 9-48.
The major league record for losses is held by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who finished with a record of 20-134.
Chris Flexen (2-15) has not won in his last 23 starts, and the White Sox have lost their last 20 road series.
David Peralta also hit a home run for the Padres (89-66), who are now three games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West with seven games left to play.
San Diego has a two-game lead over Arizona for the top wild-card spot in the National League.
The Padres have reduced their magic number to two for clinching their second playoff berth in three seasons. They did not receive help from Atlanta or the New York Mets, both of whom won on Saturday.
The White Sox pushed Friday’s game into extra innings before the Padres won 3-2.
“They’ve been playing some good baseball these last couple of days,” Bogaerts said. “Obviously we want to win every game by a big margin, but these guys are putting up a fight.
They’re trying to be spoilers. Nothing’s been given easy to us these last couple of days. It’s been nice to be able to fight for it a little bit more than people would have expected.”
Bogaerts gave the Padres a 2-0 lead with his home run to left-center field off Flexen with no outs in the second inning. This was Bogaerts’ 11th home run, and it came with rookie Jackson Merrill on base after a leadoff single.
