White Sox lose 20th game in row, one shy of AL record - ESPN

MINNEAPOLIS — Winless for almost a month, the Chicago White Sox are making the worst kind of history.

The woeful White Sox lost their 20th consecutive game Sunday, the majors' longest skid in 36 years and one short of the American League record, as Chris Flexen was chased early in a 13-7 defeat against the Minnesota Twins.

«Running out of words for it,» Flexen said.

Royce Lewis hit a three-run homer off Flexen in a six-run second inning that gave Minnesota an 8-0 cushion. The White Sox (27-87) rallied and cut it to 10-7 in the eighth, but couldn't get any closer.

«At the end of the day, we've lost 20 in a row. That's painful. That sucks,» manager Pedro Grifol said. «We've just got to find a way to put that behind us and go out there and be professionals and do what we have to do tomorrow.»

Chicago's franchise-record losing streak is the longest in the big leagues since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles dropped 21 games in a row — the AL mark — to begin the season. The NL record, since 1900, is held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 straight.

The major league low belongs to the 1889 Louisville Colonels, an American Association team that endured a 26-game slide during a 27-111 season.

The White Sox on Sunday became the 12th team in major league history — and seventh since 1900 — to lose 20 straight games in a single season.

Next up, the White Sox head to Oakland for a three-game series beginning Monday night against the Athletics, who are last in the AL West.

«It's very difficult,» Chicago center fielder Luis Robert Jr. said through a translator. «There's nothing else we can do, just try to come here every day as we've been doing it and try to win games.»

Chicago's losing streak is tied with four other clubs for the