Athletics 11, White Sox 2: Sloppy play continues as losing streak extends to eight games

Yoan Moncada is helping answer the question of “Where will Nick Madrigal play when he joins the White Sox?”

Two more errors from the young second baseman and Leury Garcia committed a costly mistake as the Oakland Athletics blow out the White Sox, 11-2. Franklin Barreto, who was hitting below the Mendoza Line and sporting a .200 OBP, smacked two 3-run homers to lead the A’s offense.

It appeared that James Shields was in rhythm to start the game. After a 1-2-3 first inning, Shields got Khris Davis to ground out starting the second inning. Then the clown show started with Matt Olson’s grounder to Moncada. Instead of getting his body in front of the ball, Moncada attempted to play it off his side, but he got played as it bounced off his glove to right field.

With Olson on first base, Shields walked Mark Canha, and Stephen Piscotty singled to left field to load the bases. Jonathan Lucroy would start the scoring by hitting a sacrifice fly to center putting Oakland ahead 1-0. Setting the table for Barreto’s first home run, which he hit a high fly to left field that just kept sailing into the White Sox bullpen and clearing the bases. A series of unfortunate events made it 4-0 Oakland.

Next big inning was the fifth which again Oakland scored four runs. With two outs and runners on first and second, Shields couldn’t find the third out. Jed Lowrie hit an RBI single to right field and was followed by Khris Davis single to left. One run for sure was going to score, by Leury Garcia also played the bounce off his side and he whiffed at the ball. As it rolled to the wall, Lowrie scored all the way from first, and Davis reached second base to put Oakland up 7-0.

At the plate was Olson, and just like the second inning, hit a grounder towards Moncada. This time he got a glove on it, but it popped out of his glove, and the throw was late to first base. With runners on the corners, Shields threw a two-strike curve in the dirt to get Canha to swing for a strikeout. However, the ball ricochet off Kevan Smith to his left and Davis scored from third with Canha reaching first safely.

Down 8-0 in the sixth inning, the White Sox offense was able to generate a run, but that was also a dumb play. After Avisail Garica’s infield single, Jose Abreu hit a grounder to Marcus Semien at short, but the A’s couldn’t turn the double play. That worked out for the Sox as Matt Davidson hit a double to deep center to put runners on second and third base. Kevan Smith hit a weak grounder to Jed Lowrie at third, but he threw it to first base instead of getting Abreu at home plate. White Sox finally scored, but as Lowrie made the throw to first, Davidson broke towards third base. Matt Olson threw it back third with Semien covering and tagging Davidson out for the 5-3-6 double play.

In the eighth inning, with runners on first and second with one out, Barreto took Luis Avilan deep to left for his second home run that one bounced onto the concourse. Oakland leading 11-1, Yolmer Sanchez hit an RBI double in the ninth to help pad his stats, but Adam Engel grounded out to third base ending this disaster of a ballgame. The White Sox losing streak extends to eight games, and they’ve been outscored 23-2 in the last two games.

Bullet points

  • Avisail Garcia was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts in his first game back.
  • Leury Garcia was 2-for-4
  • The worst 81-game record in White Sox history is 27-54 (1948). The White Sox have to win four of their next seven games to avoid tying or setting a new record low.

Record: 24-50 | Box Score

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mikeyb

Fangraphs has Moncada as a top 10 defensive 2nd baseman this year.