Gavin Sheets and Bryan Ramos each homered and Sean Burke pitched five innings for his first major league victory as the Chicago White Sox earned their first series win since the last weekend of June, beating the visiting Oakland Athletics 4-3 on Sunday.
Chicago (35-115) has won consecutive games for the first time since winning three straight on June 27-29.
The White Sox snapped a franchise-worst 16-game home losing streak on Saturday, when they evened the three-game series with a 7-6 walk-off victory.
Chicago must finish 8-4 or better in their final 12 games to avoid matching the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses in a single season in modern baseball history (120).
Burke (1-0) allowed two runs over five hits over five innings in his first major league start. He walked two and struck out five.
Jared Shuster and Prelander Berroa followed with a combined three scoreless innings before Fraser Ellard took over in the ninth.
Pinch hitter Shea Langeliers hit a solo homer with two outs before Ellard retired Nick Allen on a fly ball for his first career save.
Brent Rooker also homered for Oakland (65-85), which lost for the third time in its last four games.
Chicago took a 3-0 lead in the first inning against JP Sears (11-11). Luis Robert Jr. scored on Andrew Vaughn’s infield single, and Sheets followed with his 10th homer, a two-run shot to right-center field.
Oakland got on the board in the fifth inning. After Lawrence Butler drew a two-out walk, Rooker deposited Burke’s first offering into the left-center field seats to cut the deficit to 3-2.
The 407-foot blast was Rooker’s 37th homer this season and extended his on-base streak to 25 straight games.
Sears settled in after the rocky first inning and tossed four scoreless innings before Ramos hit a solo homer with two outs in the sixth.
Sears yielded four runs and seven hits, walked one and struck out four over six innings.
Butler went 0-for-3 with a walk, snapping his career-best hitting streak at 22 games.
–Field Level Media
