ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Eric Wagaman scored with one out in the 13th inning when Jordyn Adams’ grounder deflected off the glove of third baseman Miguel Vargas, and the Los Angeles Angels dealt the Chicago White Sox their 117th loss, rallying for a 4-3 victory on Wednesday.
Instead of winning consecutive series for the first time in four months, the White Sox tied the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics for the third most losses since 1900.
Chicago (36-117) needs to go 7-2 in its final nine games to avoid the post-1900 record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets. The 2003 Detroit Tigers hold the American League mark with 119 losses.
It doesn’t get easier for the White Sox, who begin a three-game series at San Diego on Friday. The Padres hold the first NL wild card spot but have closed within 3 1/2 games of the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
“We get the same question every day, we’re focused on one series at a time and one game at a time. Everything else is irrelevant right now,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “It’s going to be a hard series (in San Diego). They’re playing for something and we have to play our best ball to have a chance.”
After the series in San Diego, the White Sox close the season with a six-game homestand against the Angels (Sept. 24-26) and Detroit Tigers (Sept. 27-29).
The Angels had the bases loaded in the 10th and 12th innings, but were finally able to walk it off in the 13th.
“We had opportunities throughout the game to do something, we just couldn’t stretch that run, especially in extra innings. But we kept going and finally caught a break,” Angels manager Ron Washington said.
Wagaman was the automatic runner on second base and advanced to third on Logan O’Hoppe’s ground ball to right field. With the infield drawn in, Adams hit a sharp grounder off Jairo Iriarte (0-1) that Vargas wasn’t able to field cleanly, giving the Angels their fifth walk off victory of the season.
“I was just trying to put it in play and give the runner at third a chance to score,” Adams said.
The White Sox had the bases loaded with two out in the 13th, but José Quijada (2-0) struck out Yoán Moncada to end the frame. It was Moncada’s his first big league at-bat since April 9. He was activated from the 60-day injured list on Monday after missing five months because of a left adductor strain.
The game went into extra innings tied at one. Each team scored in the 10th as Chicago’s Korey Lee scored on Vargas’ sacrifice fly and Los Angeles’ Gustavo Campero had an RBI base hit.
The teams again traded runs in the 11th on RBI singles by the White Sox Andrew Benintendi and Wagaman.
Andrew Vaughn led off the fourth inning with his team-tying 19th home run. The designated hitter — who is 7 for 20 with two homers during a five-game hitting streak — drove an elevated, inside sinker from Halos starter Jack Kochanowicz into the bullpens in left field as he went deep for the second time in the series.
The White Sox have hit nine home runs over the last five games after recording just six in the previous 13 contests.
The Angels evened it in the eighth when Taylor Ward’s line drive went off the glove of White Sox shortstop Nicky Lopez and into left field to drive in Zach Neto.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: OF Mickey Moniak (left hand) did not start for the third straight day, but came in as a pinch runner in the 11th inning.
UP NEXT
White Sox: LHP Garrett Crochet (6-12, 3.78 ERA) takes the mound on Friday to start a three-game series at San Diego.
Angels: Head to Houston for a four-game weekend series. LHP José Suarez (1-2, 6.80) makes his second start of the season on Thursday.
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