Brady Basso pitched into the sixth inning for his first career victory and the visiting Oakland A’s opened a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox with a 2-0 win on Friday.
Chicago (33-115) dropped its franchise-record 16th straight home game and lost for the 18th time in its last 20 games.
The White Sox must finish 10-4 or better to avoid matching the 1962 New York Mets for the most single-season losses in modern baseball history (120).
Lawrence Butler singled in the fifth inning to extend his career-best hitting streak to 21 games for Oakland (65-83), which has won three of its last four.
Basso (1-0) allowed five hits with one walk and two strikeouts over 5 1/3 scoreless innings. Michel Otanez and Tyler Ferguson followed before closer Mason Miller worked around a one-out single in the ninth for his 25th save.
Chicago was limited to six singles and shut out for the 18th time.
JJ Bleday and Zack Gelof had two hits apiece for the Athletics, who won their sixth straight series opener.
Chicago starter Garrett Crochet (6-12) retired 11 of his first 12 batters he faced before Daz Cameron singled with two outs in the fourth inning. Gelof followed with a run-scoring double to put the A’s ahead 1-0.
Oakland tacked on another run in the fifth inning against Gus Varland. With runners on the corners and two outs, Tyler Nevin scored from third on Brent Rooker’s bloop single to right field.
Crochet allowed one run on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts on 56 pitches over four innings. The White Sox are managing his workload in his first season as a starter.
Basso was replaced by Otanez with two runners on and one out in the sixth inning. Otanez struck out Andrew Vaughn before Lenyn Sosa lined out to left field.
Oakland threatened to add to its lead with two runners on and one out in the eighth inning, but Fraser Ellard escaped unscathed when Gelof grounded into a double play.