A’s drop finale 4-3 to Sox in Chicago

Late comeback fell short today

As Major League Baseball collectively celebrates Roberto Clemente Day, the Oakland Athletics hoped to take the rubber match from the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. JP Sears took the mound today for Oakland. Sears faced off against 24-year-old rookie Sean Burke who made his major league debut on September 10, 2024.

The White Sox were first on the board when Sears walked Luis Robert Jr, He stole second and moved to third on a Tyler Soderstrom throwing error. Then with two outs, Andrew Vaughn blooped a single off the end of the bat into shallow right field to score Roberts. Gavin Sheets then launched his tenth homer into the right field bleachers scoring Vaughn and giving the White Sox a 3-0 lead at the end of the first inning.

With one out in the top of the third, Nick Allen doubled to left. He moved to third on a Lawrence Butler ground out. But was stranded at third when Brent Rooker hid a deep fly ball to straight away center that was caught at the wall.

With two outs in the top of the fifth, Lawrence Butler walked, setting the stage for a big fly by Brent Roker to put the A’s within one. Rooker’s 22 road homer puts him only three behind AL leader Aaron Judge with twenty-five. That was Rook’s 37^th homer overall, and 107^th RBI of the season. It also brought him his on-base streak to twenty-five consecutive games. JJ Bleday doubled to keep the inning alive, but Seth Brown grounded to first to end the inning.

Jaren Schuster replaced Burke in the bottom of the fifth. Burke had kept the A’s off balance for most of the game until their third time through the order. Schuster sent the A’s down in order.

With two outs and after a mound visit by James McCann, Bryan Ramos homered just over the wall in centerfield. At the end of six, the Pale Hose led the A’s 4-2.

Nick Allen doubled with one out in the top of the seventh. But two flyouts to left kept Allen in place as the inning ended. Tyler Ferguson replaced Sears in the bottom of the seventh. Sears went six full innings, giving up seven hits and four earned runs. Ferguson cruised through the inning 1-2-3.

Prelander Berroa entered the game to pitch the eighth for Chicago and retired the side easily. T.J. McFarland replaced Ferguson. Andrew Benintendi greeted him with a base hit to center. But after a Bryan Ramos walk, McFarland retired Lenyn Sosa to end the inning.

Shea Langeliers saw just one pitch with two down in the ninth and sent it into the left field stands to bring the A’s within one. But Nick Allen flew out to right fielder Cory Julks to end the game at 4-3. It was the 50^th one run game for Oakland.

The A’s travel from the southside to the northside of Chicago tomorrow, opening a three-game set against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.