CHICAGO –
The Chicago White Sox averted a record-breaking loss for the third straight day, beating the Los Angeles Angels 7-0 on Thursday behind Chris Flexen’s sharp pitching performance.
Chicago improved to 39-120 with its three-game sweep of Los Angeles. It has been tied with the 1962 New York Mets for the modern major league record for losses since Sunday’s 4-2 setback at San Diego.
The White Sox have three games left this weekend at Detroit. They finished their home schedule with a 23-58 record.
Flexen (3-15) struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings in his first win since May 8. The right-hander was winless in his previous 23 starts, a franchise record.
Los Angeles dropped to 63-96 to set a franchise record for losses in a season. It went 1-6 on its final trip to finish with a 31-50 road record — the most road losses for the team since it went 27-53 in 1996.
The Angels had just six hits — five off Flexen. They managed just five runs and 19 hits in the series at Chicago.
The White Sox put it away with a season-high seven runs in the fifth inning, helped by an error on shortstop Jack Lopez. Andrew Vaughn hit a two-run single, and Lenyn Sosa doubled home two more runs.
Lopez moved from second base to shortstop after Zach Neto departed because of right shoulder irritation. Neto got hurt when he tried to take second on a pitch in the dirt in the fourth.
Vaughn had three of Chicago’s 12 hits in front of a crowd of 15,678 on a sunny afternoon. Sosa, Zach DeLoach and Dominic Fletcher each had two.
Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson (10-15) permitted five runs, four earned, and four hits in 4 1/3 innings.