Andrew Benintendi hit two home runs and drove in four runs, helping the Chicago White Sox secure an 8-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night. This win marked the White Sox’s first three-game winning streak in nearly three months.
“It’s been fun to watch. He’s on a nice little stretch right now,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said about Benintendi, who is 6 for 12 with three home runs and six RBIs during this winning streak. “He’s doing it against righties, lefties. He’s coming through for us.”
This is only the fourth time the White Sox have won three games in a row, with the previous streak occurring from June 27-29, when they defeated Atlanta and Colorado.
Chicago also won two out of three games against Oakland over the weekend, ending a streak of 20 straight series losses.
On Tuesday night, Chicago will aim to match their longest winning streak of the season, which is four games, achieved from May 8-11 against Tampa Bay and Cleveland.
“The wins have been hard to come by, so when you can get one, you appreciate it. When you get a couple in a row, it’s even better,” Sizemore said. “It was a good atmosphere in the dugout. Guys are happy right now.”
The White Sox have a record of 36-115 with 11 games remaining and are working to avoid surpassing the post-1900 record of 120 losses set by the 1962 New York Mets.
Chicago has a 16-57 record away from home, which is far from the post-1900 record of 65 road losses held by the 1935 Boston Braves.
“We’re showing up every day, playing our best baseball and one day at a time. I’m not worried about the future,” said first baseman Andrew Vaughn, who had two hits and two RBIs.
The White Sox took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Benintendi hit a two-run home run off Angels starter Reid Detmers (4-7), and two pitches later, Vaughn hit a fastball over the left-center field wall.
It was the fifth time the White Sox hit back-to-back home runs, but the first time since June 13 in Seattle.
In the second inning, Benintendi’s grounder brought in Zach DeLoach, making the score 5-0. Later, in the seventh inning, Benintendi hit his 19th home run of the season, a solo shot to right-center.
Lenyn Sosa also hit a home run for the White Sox, leading off the third inning with a shot that made the score 7-1.
Rookie Jonathan Cannon (4-10) pitched 6 2/3 innings and earned his second win in three starts this September. He matched his season-high with seven strikeouts and gave up four runs on three hits.
The Angels have now lost six games in a row, despite Eric Wagaman hitting his first big-league home run. Charles Leblanc also added a solo home run for the Angels.
This was the Angels’ 90th loss of the season, reached in their 150th game, making it the fastest they’ve hit that mark in the team’s history.
With ten consecutive losing seasons, the Angels are trying to avoid setting a new franchise record for losses in Ron Washington’s first year as manager. The current record is 95 losses, set in 1968 and 1980.
“You could see the body language out there. He didn’t have a feel for things he wanted to do, and when it didn’t happen, he didn’t stay focused and tried to make it happen.
It looked like he just gave into it,” Washington said about Detmers, who allowed seven runs in 5 1/3 innings.
