A couple of leads slipped away Wednesday for the White Sox. But Andrew Benintendi made sure the Sox didn’t stumble into baseball history.
Benintendi knocked in Miguel Vargas with a single to left-center against left-handed reliever José Quijada in the 10th inning, giving the Sox a 4-3 victory against the Los Angeles Angels in front of 18,423 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“I was able to come through there and I’m happy I was able to do that for the team,” Benintendi said. “That’s a tough pitcher and I’m glad it worked out.”
The Sox remained tied with the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses in a season during Major League Baseball’s modern era.
The expansion ’62 Mets finished 40-120. The Sox are 38-120 with four games remaining. They wrap up the three-game series against the Angels on Thursday and finish the season with three games at Detroit.
“We’re trying to finish strong,” Benintendi said. “Obviously, it’s been a long year and I feel like we’ve been talking about it all year, but there’s four more left and we’re trying to make the most out of it.”
Wednesday’s game had a little bit of everything.
There were home runs for the Sox from Korey Lee and Lenyn Sosa. There was a squeeze bunt for the Angels that tied it late. And there were three critical double plays, including one in the 10th inning, by the Sox defense. It all led to another walk-off hit for Benintendi, his third of the season, as the Sox won the first two games of the series.
Photos: Chicago White Sox 4, Los Angeles Angels 3 (10 inn.) at Guaranteed Rate Field
“The guys played good today,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “Fought hard. Got some great help from the bullpen and some big hits when we needed it.”
Lee put the Sox ahead with a two-run home run in the second inning.
The Angels tied it with a pair of two-out runs in the fourth.
Sox starter Davis Martin surrendered a walk, hit a batter and gave up an infield single before exiting with the bases loaded and two outs in the inning. Taylor Ward greeted reliever Michael Soroka with a two-run single.
Martin allowed the two runs on three hits with four strikeouts and five walks in 3 2/3 innings.
“I was on an eight-day (with his previous start on Sept. 17),” Martin said. “It was just a long time between starts. I should have done a better job in between outings to get more slope work. It was getting reaccustomed to the slope, feeling it out.
“Every year, you have 30 starts, 10 of them are going to be ‘Hey, we are going to figure some s−−− out’ and that was today. Nothing felt good, the body didn’t feel good in space, so you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to keep your team in the game and try to win a game.”
The Sox regained the lead on a solo home run by Sosa with one out in the fourth.
Enyel De Los Santos got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh with a 6-4-3 double play, but the Angels tied it again in the eighth against reliever Justin Anderson.
Michael Stefanic executed an excellent bunt on a squeeze play and made it to first safely when no one was covering the bag for an RBI single, tying the score at 3. The Sox escaped more damage with an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
The game went to extra innings. The Angels had runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the 10th, and reliever Jared Shuster got Eric Wagaman to double play started by shortstop Nicky Lopez. With a runner on third, Matt Thaiss flew out to Benintendi in left field to end the inning.
A few moments later, Benintendi delivered the one-out single to set off a celebration for the Sox on the field.
The Sox secured a series victory and held off history for another day.
“Any time you can walk off, it’s a great feeling,” Sizemore said. “Great energy in the clubhouse. Guys love that. We’re trying to build something here, these are the kinds of games you can create some momentum with, especially here late in the year.
“It’s just nice to see and hopefully we can finish it off (in Thursday’s series finale) and move on to Detroit.”