Angels fall to last-place White Sox for their 90th loss of the season
Andrew Benintendi homered twice for the third time this season and drove in four runs, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Angels 8-4 Monday night for their first three-game winning streak in nearly three months.
“It’s been fun to watch. He’s on a nice little stretch right now,” White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore said about Benintendi, who is six for 12 with three homers and six RBIs during the winning streak. “He’s coming through for us.”
It is only the fourth time the White Sox have won at least three in a row — and the first since June 27-29, when they beat Atlanta and Colorado. Chicago took two of three from Oakland over the weekend to stop a string of 20 consecutive series losses.
On Tuesday night, Chicago will try to match its season-high winning streak of four, which happened May 8-11 against Tampa Bay and Cleveland.
Angels star Mike Trout is open to discussing a position change after missing 370 games over the past four seasons because of injury.
“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 are 36-115 with 11 games left and are trying to avoid the post-1900 record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets. Chicago is 16-57 away from home, well off the post-1900 mark of 65 road losses by the 1935 Boston Braves.
The White Sox took a 3-0 first-inning lead in a matchup of teams with the worst records in the American League. Benintendi hit a two-run shot to right field off Angels starter Reid Detmers (4-7). Two pitches later, Andrew Vaughn drove a fastball over the wall in left-center.
It was the fifth time the White Sox hit back-to-back homers, but it was the first since June 13 in Seattle.
In the second inning, Benintendi’s grounder drove in Zach DeLoach to make it 5-0. The left fielder hit his team-leading 19th home run in the seventh inning on a solo shot to right-center.
Lenyn Sosa also went deep for the White Sox as his homer to lead off the third inning extended their lead to 7-1.
Rookie Jonathan Cannon (4-10) went 6⅔ innings and picked up his second win in three September starts. The right-hander tied a season-high with seven strikeouts and gave up four runs and three hits.
Ronel Blanco threw six scoreless innings, Jason Heyward had a home run and Houston finished off a three-game sweep of the Angels with a 6-4 victory Sunday.
The Angels have dropped six straight despite Eric Wagaman’s first big-league homer. Charles Leblanc also had a solo shot.
The Angels’ 90th loss came in its 150th game, the quickest it has reached that mark in franchise history.
With 10 straight losing seasons, the Angels are trying to avoid having the most losses in franchise history in Ron Washington’s first year as manager. The record is 95, set in 1968 and 1980.
“You could see the body language out there. He didn’t have the 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 look like he just gave into it,” said Washington about Detmers, who allowed seven runs in 5⅓ innings.
Injury updates
White Sox: Third baseman Yoán Moncada was activated off the 60-day injured list. He had been on the IL since April 10 because of a left adductor strain.
Angels: Center fielder Mike Trout (left knee) said he would consider a position change next season. ... Second baseman Michael Stefanic (right calf tightness), second baseman Brandon Drury (left hamstring tightness) and outfielder Mickey Moniak (left hand) were not in the lineup.
Up next
White Sox right-hander Davis Martin (0-4, 4.14 ERA) makes his ninth start and 10th appearance of the season. Angels right-hander Griffin Canning (5-13, 5.35 ERA) looks to bounce back after yielding 10 runs (nine earned) in 5⅔ innings on Sept. 10 at Minnesota.
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