The Chicago White Sox stayed tied with the 1962 New York Mets for the modern major league record of 120 losses in a season, coming back to score three runs in the eighth inning to defeat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Andrew Benintendi hit a crucial two-out single to give the White Sox (37-120) a lead and avoid setting the unwanted record for at least one more night.
Fans expressed their frustration with White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf by chanting “Sell the team!” during the game and booed when Los Angeles’ Eric Wagaman grounded out to end it, seemingly upset they didn’t witness a record loss.
“It’s been a long season,” Benintendi said. “I think that people here tonight were maybe trying to see history. But they’re going to have to wait one more day. Maybe.”
Jonathan Cannon threw three hits over six scoreless innings for Chicago. The White Sox have five games left—two more against the Angels and three at Detroit—to try to avoid a record no team wants.
Chicago had never lost more than 106 games in a season before this year. They surpassed that mark when the New York Mets defeated them on Sept. 1.
The team matched the American League record of 119 losses at San Diego on Saturday and tied the ’62 Mets the next day.
But with a chance to lose more games than any team since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who went 20-134, the White Sox made an unexpected comeback. They had been 0-94 when trailing after seven innings.
Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the seventh when Kevin Pillar walked and Wagaman hit a double to right-center against Gus Varland. Jack López hit his first career homer in the eighth against Prelander Berroa (1-0), making it 2-0.
