Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. robs Oakland Athletics’ Brent Rooker of a home run during the fourth inning  at Guarantee Rate Field in Chicago on Thu Aug 24, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s won a slugfest Thursday night as they downed the Chicago White Sox 8-5 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. The A’s won for the third time in their last four games. The A’s hope the turmoil in Chicago will help them get a couple of wins in the Windy City this weekend.

The White Sox, expected to win the AL Central crown, have been floundering this season. The Sox fired team president Ken Williams and General Manager Rick Hahn. Skipper Pedro Grifol may be the next to be fired. 

The A’s sent lefty Ken Waldichuk to the hill to face the Sox. Waldichuk did well for the first four innings. His only mistake in those innings was serving up a gopher ball to the second batter he faced, Andrew Benintendi. It was Benintendi’s fourth dinger of the year. The rest of the game summary follows below.

The A’s put three on the board in the top of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. With one out, Seth Brown singled to get the rally started. Luis Robert snagged Brent Rooker’s drive to centerfield as the ball was headed over the wall.

Rooker had flown out to deep left field in his first at-bat. Left fielder Tony Kemp doubles to send Brown to third. A’s catcher Shea Langeliers continued his hot homer streak by blasting a line drive over the fence in left field. 

The White Sox scored four times in the bottom of the fifth. Former Oakland A’s shortstop Elvis Andrus led off the frame with his fifth bomb of the year. Waldichuk retired Trayce Thompson for the first out. On the next play, Waldichuk threw the ball past first base.

The batter, Sox catcher Korey Lee, motored to the second base. Waldichuk struck out Tim Anderson for the second out. Andrew Benintendi singled to drive in his second run of the game.

Waldichuk now had to deal with the Sox’s best hitter, Luis Robert. Robert led the Sox with 33 homers. He now has 34. Robert’s home run gave the Sox a 5-3 lead after five innings.

The A’s homered twice in the sixth inning to send White Sox starter Jesse Scholtens to the showers. With one out, Brent Rooker, denied in his first two at-bats, homered for the 22nd time this year. Schotens retired Tony Kemp for the second out. The next hitter, Shea Langeliers, homered for the second time to tie the game 5-5. 

The A’s added two runs in the top of the seventh. With two out, Ryan Noda singled and then stole second. The A’s sensational rookie second baseman, Zack Gelof, homered for the tenth time this season. The A’s led 7-5

It was now up to the A’s bullpen to preserve the win. Before we get to what the bullpen did, the A’s added another run in the top of the eight. Tony Kemp hit a solo homer to give the A’s a three-run cushion midway through the eighth,

The A’s bullpen allowed the White Sox four hits and kept them scoreless in the last four innings of the game. Lucas Erceg, Danny Jimenez, Spencer Patton, Kirby Snead, and Trevor May came through for the A’s. Oakland won the first game of the four-game series 8-5.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s are now 37-91. The White Sox dropped to 50-78. 

The line score for Oakland was eight runs, nine hits, and one error. Ken Waldichuk worked five innings and allowed eight hits and five runs. The White Sox hit three home runs off of Waldichuk’s offerings. Lucas Erceg was the winning pitcher.

The line score for Chicago was five runs, 12 hits, and one error. 

The A’s hit five home runs in the game. Tony Kemp had a double and a home run. Shea Langeliers had two dingers and four RBIs. Brent Rooker hit his 22nd of the year. He was robbed by Luis Robert earlier in the game. Two other drives were very long outs. He seems to be back in the groove. 

Game two of the series will be played Friday night. The A’s starter will be Zach Neal (0-0 ERA 8.25). Neal probably will be an opener. The White Sox will counter with Dylan Cease (5-6 ERA 4.50). The game will start at 5:10 p.m.

There was a sparse crowd 13,247 at the park on Chicago’s southside. Reports surfaced that the White Sox are not happy with their park. Reports say the team is looking at relocating to Nashville. The White Sox, for years, have been the second banana in the Windy City. The fans love the Cubs, who went 108 years before winning a World Series Championship. The Cubs can do no wrong. It would be sad for the White Sox fans to lose their team.