Langeliers homers twice, Gelof hits tiebreaking shot as Athletics beat White Sox 8-5

By ANDREW SELIGMAN
AP Sports Writer

CHICAGO (AP) — Luis Robert Jr. reached high above the center field wall to snag a potential home run and launched a long drive an inning later.

Even though their star delivered with his glove and bat, the Chicago White Sox lost again. This time, to the team with the worst record in baseball.

Shea Langeliers homered twice, Zack Gelof hit a tiebreaking two-run drive in the seventh inning and the Oakland Athletics beat the White Sox 8-5 on Thursday night.

Robert did his part, robbing Brent Rooker of a homer and smacking a 444-foot drive.

“Every loss is difficult, but tomorrow’s another day and we’ll try to win,” Robert said through an interpreter.

It’s been a particularly rough week for the White Sox, who have lost nine of 12. They fired executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn on Tuesday and opened a four-game series between teams with among the four poorest records in the major leagues on a losing note.

They combined for eight homers on a hot and humid night, with the Athletics hitting five on the way to their third win in four games.

Gelof put Oakland (37-91) on top for good when he lined a 2-2 pitch from Jimmy Lambert (2-3) just beyond the left-field wall after Ryan Noda singled with two outs, making it 7-5. The rookie has 10 homers in 35 games since being called up last month.

“He showed us signs in spring training, that he did everything possible to make this team,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “We felt like he needed a little bit more time in Triple-A. He didn’t put his head down, didn’t mope, didn’t pout. Worked his tail off there. He’s getting his opportunity now to kind of show us why he should have started the season here.”

The surging Langeliers hit a three-run drive in the fourth and chased Jesse Scholtens with a solo shot in the sixth that tied it at 5-all, giving him four home runs in four games. It was his second career multi-homer game.

Rooker hit a solo drive in the sixth after getting robbed of a two-run shot in the fourth by Robert. Tony Kemp added a solo homer in the eighth.

Ken Waldichuk went five innings, allowing five runs and eight hits. Lucas Erceg (3-3) worked an inning. Trevor May came on in the ninth for his 14th save in 17 chances.

Chicago’s Andrew Benintendi hit a solo homer in the first, Elvis Andrus connected leading off a four-run fifth and Robert capped that inning with a two-run drive that made it 5-3. Scholtens gave up five runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.

MEETING WITH CHAIRMAN

White Sox manager Pedro Grifol insisted his meeting Wednesday with chairman Jerry Reinsdorf wasn’t a result of the front office shakeup this week and they’ve had similar discussions this season. He called Reinsdorf a “big-time competitor” who puts winning “at the top of his list.”

Grifol said they discussed a vision for turning around the franchise, but would not say if he got any assurances that he’ll be managing the team next year. “I’m not gonna get into that. I’ll let time play that out,” Grifol said.

TRANSACTION

The White Sox recalled catcher Korey Lee from Triple-A Charlotte and the rookie went 1 for 4. The 25-year-old Lee played in 12 games for Houston last season, and the White Sox acquired him for reliever Kendall Graveman on July 28. Chicago optioned catcher Carlos Pérez to Charlotte.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: RHP Michael Kopech was fine after leaving Wednesday’s start against Seattle prior to the fifth inning because of the heat. “He’s feeling good,” Grifol said. “He had some cramping going on. It started in, I think, his left arm and went down to his quad.”

UP NEXT

The White Sox send RHP Dylan Cease (5-6, 4.50 ERA) to the mound Friday, while RHP Zach Neal (0-0, 8.25) makes his first major league start since 2016 with the Athletics. The 2022 AL Cy Young Award runner-up, Cease has a 5.44 ERA over his past eight starts. ___

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