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Athletics 17, White Sox 6: Leury Garcia pitched. So did Alexei Ramirez. In September.

Because Jeff Samardzija didn't.

By Jim Margalus
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

How bad was Jeff Samardzija tonight?

Jeff Samardzija was so bad ... that the White Sox hit Aaron Brooks, a pitcher with a career 10.19 ERA, more or less the way they should have ... and still lost this one by 11.

Jeff Samardzija was so bad ... that the Sox were down 5-0 before they could even come to the plate.

Jeff Samardzija was so bad ... that he set a career high in runs allowed with 10, and he couldn't even record an out in the fourth inning.

Jeff Samardzija was so bad ... that the White Sox have a nine-man bullpen, and Robin Ventura still tapped Leury Garcia to pitch in the eighth.

Jeff Samardzija was so bad ... that Alexei Ramirez pitched the ninth.

Jeff Samardzija was so bad ... that he only threw one more inning than infielders did today.

While I'm an enthusiast of the position-player-pitching arts, that's a new low. Part of it is attributable to Daniel Webb, who could only get one out in what turned out to be a 10-run fourth for Oakland, resulting in these two adjacent lines in the box score:

  • Samardzija: 3+ IP, 11 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
  • Webb: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 0 K,

That line for Samardzija was worth a game score of -3. Yes, that's a negative sign.

The Sox offense tried to give Samardzija a reprieve after his first-inning dud. The first four White Sox hitters reached (single, walk, single, single), and after a strikeout, J.B. Shuck walked to load the bases.

Then Mike Olt swung at the first pitch -- a pitcher's-pitch slider -- and grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat. Still, they came away with two runs, but it was only one-eighth of what Samardzija and Webb needed to work with. By the time the White Sox scored again, they could only cut the lead to 16-3.

Both Garcia and Ramirez pitched around a hit and an HBP to record a scoreless inning. Each had their amusing moments despite the carnage. Garcia struck out Jason Pridie on a fastball for his first strikeout -- that eluded him in his pitching debut last year -- and Ramirez proved that nobody trusts Geovany Soto's pitch-calling.

Ramirez, who homered earlier in the game and became the first Sox with a homer and a pitching appearance since Mark Buehrle in 2009, also came to the plate for himself in the bottom of the ninth.

Record: 68-75 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights

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