Photo credit: @Athletics

Chicago White Sox : 1 | 6 | 4
Oakland Athletics: 8 | 8 | 0

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND — After escaping from Minneapolis, where over 13 inches of snow had caused the postponement of their last three games, the Chicago White Sox must have felt as if they’d be transported to the beach at Waikiki when they took the field Monday evening at the Oakland Coliseum under partly cloudy skies and the thermometer showing 53 degrees.

When he took to the mound, Chicago’s starting pitcher, Reynaldo Pérez, hadn’t thrown a ball in anger in eight days since pitching seven innings of two-hit ball without giving up an earned run, but still managed to lose 1-0 to Detroit. The involuntarily well-rested  righty brought an impressive ERA of 0.69 with him to the Coliseum.

Pérez picked up where he had left off back on April 8, holding the A’s scoreless for the first three innings. Then, Matt Olson blasted Pérez’s first offering in the fourth into the right field seats above the Stanley Tools sign to end an 0-for-12 slump and give the home team a 1-0 lead. They tacked on another run in fifth when Khris Davis’s two-out double  to center drove Matt Joyce in from second to stretch the A’s lead to two runs.

Pérez finished his night’s work by striking out the side in the sixth. He needed only 13 pitches to retire Matt Chapman, Mark Canha, and Stephen Piscotty, in that order.

Atrocious fielding in the seventh and eighth frames cost the Pale Hose any chance they might have had to salvage the game. Luis Avilán relieved Pérez to start the seventh and immediately walked Jonathan Lucroy on a 3-2 count. Matt Joyce laid down a bunt between the mound and first base. First baseman José Abreu fielded, and then bobbled the ball, which was grabbed by Avilán, who threw late to second sacker Yoan Moncada, covering first. Joyce was credited with a sacrifice, Abreu was charged with an error, and the A’s had runners on first and second with nobody out. Marcus Semien’s single to right loaded the bases and set up the next scene in Chicago comedy of errors.

Jed Lowry smacked a hard ground ball to shortstop Tim Anderson, just what Avilán needed to get a double play and minimize the damage Abreu’s miscue had cost him. But the ball skipped through Anderson into left field, where it was fumbled by Leury García, who had just entered the game to replace Nicky Delmonico. Lowrie scored on Anderson’s error, which also allowed Semien to move on to second. He advanced to third on García’s error.

Danny Farquhar came in to replace the put-upon Avilán and did so in splendid fashion, striking out Olson—who, in spite of his home run, went down swinging for the third time in the game—and then closing out the A’s by getting Khris Davis, Oakland’s other RBI producer so far, to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. After seven innings, the A’s led 5-0.

The Green and Gold put the game out of reach in the eighth through a combination of their hitting and Chicago’s continued ineptitude in the field. Christ Volstead surrendered a walk to Chapman to open the inning and then a single to center by Mark Canha, sending Chapman to third. Adam Engel juggled the ball in center, which allowed Canha to reach second.

Piscotty also singled to center, bringing in Chapman with Oakland’s sixth tally and advancing Canha to third. He didn’t get any further because Lucroy’s Volstead fielded Lucroy’s comebacker to mound and fired the ball to his catcher, Welington Castillo, who tagged Canha out before the A’s center fielder could scamper back to third. That was Volstead’s last act of the game, but the runs soon to be scored by Piscotti and Lucroy, the runners he left on base would be charged to his account.

Manager Rick Rentería removed Volstead  and replaced him with Aaron Bummer. who walked Semien and gave up a single to Lowrie, which drove in the A’s final two runs of the game. He also got the two outs needed to end the slaughter.

Meanwhile, Mengden was magnificent. He held the South Siders scoreless on five hits through eight innings, striking out six and giving up but a single walk. In this, he was aided by some nifty fielding, including an inning-ending double play that occurred in the second frame when, with Yolmer Sánchez on first, Anderson hit a sharp ground ball to Chapman at third, who threw the batter out at first. Sánchez, who had reached second, kept on running, expecting to arrive safely at third, but a perfect throw by Olson to Semien, who was covering the bag, retired daring and resourceful Sánchez.

Mengden lost his shutout and complete game when Abreu hit a 400-foot homer to center to lead off the ninth, and Yusmeiro Petit came in to set the remaining White Sox down in order. Mengden got the well-deserved win. He’s now 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA. The loser, López, is 0-2 with a 1.42 ERA.

The two teams will match up tomorrow at 7:05 pm PT with Miguel González facing Trevor Cahill.