The White Sox lose their 120th game, tying the record set after 1900 by the New York Mets during the 1962 expansion.
SAN DIEGO — The Chicago White Sox tied the MLB record since 1900 of 120 losses held by the 1962 expansion New York Mets on Sunday when the San Diego Padres won 4-2 by scoring 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.
The loss comes a day after the White Sox tied the American League record of 119 losses set by the Detroit Tigers in 2003.
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the major league losing record at 20-134.
Interim manager Grady Sizemore did not address the team afterward.
“Not losing is good,” he said. “It’s not something we’re focused on. I think everybody outside of this locker room is more focused on that than we are. Our mindset is to put this loss behind us and get ready for the series at home.”
With one more loss in their last six games, the White Sox hold the current record. They finish with three home losses to the Los Angeles Angels starting Tuesday night and three losses to Detroit, which is in the running for the American League wild card.
“I guess when you lose 120 it’s easier to ignore it, but it’s a horror to go through, but that’s where we’re at,” veteran Andrew Benintendi said.
The Padres (90-66) notched their first 90-win season since 2010, when they finished 90-72 but missed the playoffs because of a brutal September collapse.
The Padres reduced their magic number to one to clinch their third playoff berth since 2020.
The Padres control their destiny heading into a three-game series against the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers starting Tuesday night, but they’ll need to win to clinch the division title. While the Dodgers have a three-game lead over the Padres, San Diego holds the tiebreaker. San Diego has a three-game lead over Arizona for the top wild card in the National League. The Padres finish with a three-game series at Arizona next weekend.
Some of the 45,197 spectators began chanting “Beat LA!” as Padres players and staff greeted fans after the final home game of the regular season. San Diego set a franchise attendance record with 3,314,593 in 80 games.
“We’re never out and that’s probably been the first week we played baseball this year,” Tatis said. “What we’ve done 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 back-to-back doubles in the leadoff of the eighth inning off Fraser Ellard (2-3). Arraez advanced on a wild pitch and scored the deciding run on Jurickson Profar’s sacrifice fly.
Tatis then hit a powerful shot into the left-field bleachers, his 20th home run of the season.
“It was an unbelievable feeling. I felt like I showed it that way after I hit it,” said Tatis, who had an exuberant trot after the 389-foot shot, including a tentative step toward third base.
White Sox rookie Sean Burke held the Padres to one run and two hits over six innings in his third major league appearance and second start. He struck out eight batters and allowed one walk.
“Burke had a hell of a game,” Benintendi said. “They’ve got a lot of good at-bats throughout the lineup, guys that have been playing for a long time and once they get an edge with that bullpen, it looks like it’s pretty much over at this point.”
Lee, who grew up in northern San Diego County, hit a line-drive home run to left with one out in the third, his 11th.
Profar tied it by hitting an opposite-field shot to left field with one out in the bottom of the inning. It was his 24th, extending his career-best total.
The White Sox regained the lead on Vargas’ one-out home run to left-center in the sixth, his fifth.
Darvish became the first Japanese-born player to reach 2,000 career strikeouts when he struck out Jacob Amaya in the third inning. With nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings Sunday, he extended his 12-season MLB total to (2003). He has allowed nine walks while allowing two runs and three hits.
Robert Suarez, who has struggled of late, pitched the ninth inning for his 34th save.
FOLLOWING
White Sox: Right-handed pitcher Jonathan Cannon (4-10, 4.61 ERA) is expected to start Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Angels, who will play alongside right-handed pitcher Jack Kochanowicz (2-5, 4.56 ERA).
Padres: Right-handed pitcher Michael King (12-9, 3.04 ERA) is expected to start the opener of a three-game series Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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