The Chicago White Sox tied the post-1900 MLB record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets on Sunday when the San Diego Padres won 4-2 by rallying for three runs in the eighth inning, capped by Fernando Tatis Jr.’s towering home run.
The White Sox (36-120) had taken a 2-1 lead on home runs by Korey Lee and Miguel Vargas off Yu Darvish, but that lead quickly disappeared in the eighth.
This defeat came a day after the White Sox tied the American League record of 119 losses set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers.
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the major league record for losses at 20-134.
Interim manager Grady Sizemore didn’t address the team afterward.
“No loss is good,” he said. “It’s not something that we’re focused on. I think everyone outside this clubhouse is more obsessed with it than us. The way we spin is to put this one behind us and get ready for the series back home.”
With one more loss in their final six games, the White Sox will hold the modern-day record outright. They finish with three at home against the Los Angeles Angels beginning Tuesday night and finish with three at Detroit, which is in the AL wild-card hunt.
“I guess when you lose 120 it’s easier to brush it off, but it (stinks) to go through it, but that’s where we’re at,” veteran Andrew Benintendi said.
The Padres (90-66) clinched their first 90-win season since 2010, when they finished 90-72 but missed the postseason thanks to a brutal September collapse.
The Padres reduced their magic number to one for clinching their third postseason berth since 2020.
The Padres control their own destiny going into a three-game series at the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers starting Tuesday night, but would have to win out to clinch the division title. While the Dodgers have a three-game lead over the Padres, San Diego owns the tiebreaker. San Diego has a three-game lead over Arizona for the NL’s top wild card. The Padres finish with three games at Arizona next weekend.
Some in the sellout crowd of 45,197 began chanting “Beat L.A.!” as the Padres players and staff saluted the fans after the final home regular-season game. San Diego set the franchise attendance record of 3,314,593 in 80 games.
“We’re never out and that’s probably since the first week that we played baseball this year,” Tatis said. “What we have been doing over here is really special. We have the talent to go all the way. But it’s time to take care of business one day at a time.”
The Padres tied it at 2 when Donovan Solano and pinch-hitter Luis Arraez hit consecutive doubles opening the eighth against Fraser Ellard (2-3). Arraez advanced on a wild pitch and scored the go-ahead run on Jurickson Profar’s sacrifice fly.
Tatis then drove a towering shot into the left field stands, his 20th homer of the season.
“It felt amazing. It felt like I showed it that way after I hit it,” said Tatis, who had an exuberant trot after the 389-foot blast, including stutter-stepping into third base.
White Sox rookie Sean Burke held the Padres to one run and two hits in six innings in just his third big league appearance and second start. He struck out eight and walked one.
“Burke threw a hell of a game,” Benintendi said. “They’ve got a lot of good bats up and down that lineup, guys that have played a long time and once they get the lead with that bullpen, it seems like its pretty much over at this point.”
Lee, who grew up in northern San Diego County, hit a line shot homer to left with one out in the third, his 11th.
Profar tied it when he hit an opposite-field shot to left with one out in the bottom of the inning. It was his 24th, extending his career-best.
The White Sox jumped back ahead on Vargas’ homer to left-center with one out in the sixth, his fifth.
Darvish became the first Japanese-born player to reach 2,000 career strikeouts when he fanned Jacob Amaya in the third. With nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings on Sunday, he pushed his 12-season MLB total to (2003). He walked nine while allowing two runs and three hits.
Robert Suarez, who has struggled lately, pitched the ninth for his 34th save.
