Oakland A’s Brent Rooker slugged a two run home run in the top of the fifth inning against the Chicago White Sox in a losing cause at Guarantee Rate Field in Chicago on Sun Sep 15, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

In a series that the Oakland A’s (65-85) should have won, the complete opposite took place on Sunday in game three of their series. The 4-3 loss to Chicago White Sox (35-115) was a bit of a shocker after winning game one in a shutout 2-0.

The A’s barely lost Saturday’s coming back to tie twice so a better effort was expected in Sunday’s game. The A’s hit a couple of home runs, one from Brent Rooker and a second from Shea Langeliers but it was not enough to win the game losing 4-3. JP Sears had a rough start giving up three runs in the first inning.

Game recap: Saturday the White Sox had taken a 3-0 lead after three innings. In Sunday’s game Chicago took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and this was not the way Oakland wanted to start the game. They were behind the eight ball from the get-go.

JP Sears gave up a walk, an infield single and with two runners on base a Gavin Sheets home run for the 3-0 tally. The A’s had tied the game twice in Saturday’s contest so while it was not ideal, it was early in the game.

Neither team scored in the following three innings but in the fifth inning Oakland was up on the scoreboard only trailing by a single run. Brent Rooker knocked a 407 foot bomb out of the park with Lawrence Butler on base cutting the Chicago lead to 3-2. The A’s were within striking distance.

The White Sox did not let their foot off the pedal hitting their second home run of the game in the sixth inning pushing their lead back out to 4-2. Bryan Ramos hit a solo home run making it a little more difficult for Oakland but still within reach.

The hits were not coming for either team in the seventh and eighth innings and it all came down to the ninth inning for the A’s. Tyler Nevin lined out, Max Schuemann struck out and it was up to Shea Langeliers to keep this game going. He connected for a solo home run and Oakland was within a run of another tie. It all came to an end when Nick Allen flied out and that was the ball game 4-3.

It was an awful disappointment for the A’s in more than one way. They had so many ties in this series only to lose games. Lawrence Butler’s hit streak came to an end in this game. He did have an RBI but no hits. So often loses come at the hand of teams that are struggling; they have nothing to lose and the A’s experienced this in the series.

Game notes: Sunday afternoon the A’s took on the White Sox in game three of their series and dropped a heartbreaker 4-3 after Oakland lost Saturday’s game after tying up the game twice, the second tie in the top of the ninth.

A’s pitcher Hogan Harris threw a pitch that was right in Chicago’s Andrew Benintendi’s wheelhouse. The result was a 366 foot home run and a Chicago walk-off 7-6 on Saturday. Oakland starter JP Sears went six innings, allowed seven hits, four earned runs, and struck out four strike outs. The Sox starter Sean Burke pitched five innings allowing five hits and two earned runs.

Oakland will remain in Chicago taking on the Cubs in a three game series that will begin Monday. The Cubs are coming off losing a series to the Colorado Rockies who are also really struggling. The Cubs are a good ball club, in second place in the National League Central. The probable pitcher for the Oakland A’s will be Joey Estes with a 7-7 win/loss record and a 4.36 ERA. Shota Imanaga will take the mound for the Cubs with a 13-3 win/loss record and a 3.03 ERA. First pitch for this game is scheduled for 4:40 PM.