For more than 50 years, the 1970 team has held the Chicago White Sox franchise record for losses in a season.
Now that club has company.
The Sox suffered their 106th defeat of this season Saturday, falling 5-3 to the New York Mets at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Pete Alonso hit a two-out, two-run home run in the first inning against Davis Martin. Four pitches later, Jesse Winker made it back-to-back home runs for the Mets, and the Sox were on their way to their ninth consecutive loss.
The 1970 Sox finished 56-106. This year’s club is 31-106, on pace to shatter the modern-day Major League Baseball record of 120 losses by the expansion 1962 Mets (40-120).
The Sox need to go 12-13 in their final 25 games to avoid tying the loss total of the ’62 Mets.
“A lot of things have been going against us, we need that break just to kind of help the morale in that clubhouse,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “Sometimes it gets frustrating. They keep fighting. The energy is up. They are not feeling sorry for themselves. They are not quitting. They are not folding.
“But it would be nice to have some of those balls fall to get some bleeders or something. We just can’t seem to get that ball to break our way.”
The nine-game skid is the third-longest of the season for the Sox, who had an American League record-tying 21-game slide July 10-Aug. 5 and dropped 14 straight from May 22-June 6.
Saturday’s loss, which came in front of 18,627 — including several Mets fans in the right-field seats, clinched the 17th consecutive series defeat for the Sox. They last won a series by taking two of three against the Colorado Rockies from June 28-30.
“We’re all competitors,” Martin said. “Every pitch I want to win. Every AB I want to win and I hope that trickles down to everybody else. That’s everybody. Everybody’s fighting for ABs. Everybody’s fighting on the mound. When you win, you beat guys, you take the positives.
“Obviously you’re going to lose. It’s the game of baseball, you’re going to fail. You’ve got to really look for those positives, and it all starts with being competitive.”
Martin allowed four runs on five hits with six strikeouts and one walk in five innings. His first inning featured the three runs allowed but also included three strikeouts.
“Honestly I think the Winker home run, it’s a 2-1 count and it’s my best pitch right now, the changeup and he hits it out of the park, you just tip your cap,” Martin said. “The 0-0 slider to Alonso is the only one I really want back. I think I threw 89 pitches with conviction tonight and one with no conviction and that was a two-run home run. Just a learning lesson for me and move on.”
Winker provided another two-out run in the third with an RBI bloop single to right to give the Mets a 4-1 lead.
Andrew Benintendi, who had two hits, singled and later scored on a single by Gavin Sheets in the third to bring the Sox within 4-2. Former Sox pitcher Jose Quintana allowed one earned run on six hits with six strikeouts and three walks in five innings.
The Sox trailed by three runs in the ninth, but Miguel Vargas doubled against reliever José Buttó and scored on a fielder’s choice to cut the deficit to 5-3. Luis Robert Jr. singled, giving the Sox runners on first and second with two outs.
Benintendi bounced back to the mound and was retired for the final out, and the Sox joined the 1970 club in losses with a full month remaining in the season.
“Here we are at the bottom of the order and these guys aren’t giving up,” Sizemore said. “They are fighting and putting good at-bats together. (Vargas) is battling pitches, hitting a double. (Jacob Amaya) hitting a line drive (for a single). We are seeing good at-bats. You are seeing guys keep fighting and not giving away at-bats, especially late in the game when we are down.
“I feel like every night in the ninth we are coming back. We are getting guys on base. We are one hit away from a big win. Sometimes one gets taken away from us. I feel like we are competing and not giving up. I’m happy about that. We just have to keep pushing forward. It’s easy to get frustrated and fold. The message is keep going, keep fighting. Keep with the effort. The breaks will come.”
Jairo Iriarte, Zach DeLoach in line to join Sox
Pitcher Jairo Iriarte and outfielder Zach DeLoach are expected to join the Sox on Sunday when rosters expand from 26 to 28.
Iriarte, one of the players acquired in the trade that sent Dylan Cease to the San Diego Padres, is 5-7 with a 3.71 ERA in 23 appearances (22 starts) for Double-A Birmingham.
Sizemore said the plan will be to utilize him out of the bullpen.
DeLoach, acquired as part of an offseason trade with the Seattle Mariners, is 3-for-22 (.136) with one RBI, one run and three walks in nine games this season with the Sox. He’s hitting .285 with six home runs and 54 RBIs in 96 games for Triple-A Charlotte.
