Dominic Fletcher’s RBI double started a five-run ninth inning, and the Chicago White Sox avoided a three-game sweep by defeating the Boston Red Sox 7-2 on Sunday.
Chicago starter Chris Flexen’s winless streak reached 21 starts — the longest in team history — after he was taken out with the game tied in the seventh inning. The 30-year-old right-hander allowed two runs on six hits, struck out six, and walked one.
The White Sox had lost his previous 20 starts, setting a major league record.
“Just show up every day and try to get better each week,” Flexen said about his personal streak. “Just stick with my routine and focus on getting ready for every start. … Just continue to stick with the routine, work hard and not give up. Just compete — that’s all you can do.”
Chicago (33-111) had lost 14 of its last 15 games before coming back against Boston reliever Zack Kelly (6-3). Zach DeLoach added a two-run single in the ninth inning.
“Just a lot of guys competing, a lot of guys that want to win and just go out there and compete,” Fletcher said. “Even though we’ve been struggling a little bit lately, we want to go out there and compete and try to win every game.”
The White Sox, who have the worst record in MLB, are nine losses away from matching the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses since 1900 and are on track to finish 37-125. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the MLB record for losses at 20-134.
Wilyer Abreu and Connor Wong hit solo home runs for Boston, which has lost 10 of its last 16 games and trails Minnesota for the American League’s third and final wild-card spot.
“We didn’t do much today offensively,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “They put the ball in play, found some holes, and obviously, the ninth inning happened, but offensively we didn’t do much.”
