A’s beat White Sox 12-11 in 14 innings; Sox fall to 4-11

Man, this one was hard to swallow.

The Chicago White Sox turned in one of their best offensive efforts of the season, but came up just short.

The offense supplied 11 runs, but the starting pitching and bullpen couldn’t bring home the victory.

The game took five hours and 48 minutes. Jason Benetti played Soxmath twice, and Steve Stone said he wanted hash in the 13th inning. It was a long one.

Hey, at least the whole timely hitting problem went away (for the most part).

The White Sox had a man on second base with one out in the first inning. Jose Abreu lined out to right, advancing Yoan Moncada to third, and the “Here we go again” remarks could be heard all the way from Chicago. But Nicky Delmonico stepped to the plate and muscled a single up the middle, driving in Moncada.

The Sox were five of their last 62 before that at-bat with runners in scoring position.

After Delmonico delivered, it triggered a hit parade the team hasn’t seen since the season opener. Even Adam Engel joined the fun, blooping an RBI single to keep the bases loaded in the second inning.

Moncada was next, and demolished a pitch over the wall in right-center field. The grand slam gave Moncada three home runs and nine RBIs on the season. He’s coming along fine, folks.

Things were looking mighty fine, with a 6-1 lead after the top of the second.

However, Carson Fulmer continued his struggles and did not record an out in the second inning. Fulmer gave up four earned runs on five hits and two walks. The A’s put up three runs in Fulmer’s vacated second inning.

The Sox came back in the fourth with three of their own, highlighted by a line-shot double off the bat of Abreu.

Hector Santiago began the bottom of the inning and exited with a runner on second base. In came Aaron Bummer, who allowed the inherited runner to score, while giving up three more of his own earned runs.

So if you’re doing math correctly, the Sox led, 9-8, after the fourth inning. That seems like five days ago at this point.

The Sox added a run in the sixth, but ran into trouble in the bottom of the eighth.

Danny Farquhar started the inning, getting one out and giving up one run. Luis Avilan relieved Farquhar and allowed a walk and a two-run, go-ahead home run to Jed Lowrie. It was the first lead the A’s had on the day.

But the Sox refused to quit. Welington Castillo ripped an opposite field double with two outs in the ninth that was eventually followed by a Tim Anderson RBI single to tie the game.

The score would remain tied until the 14th inning. Bruce Rondon stepped up in a big way, throwing three innings of scoreless ball, giving way to Friday’s probable starter, James Shields. Shields got the first two outs but then allowed a single, two walks and the eventual game-winning hit to Matt Olson.

Here are a few interesting facts from the game …

• No errors were committed (all 23 runs were earned).
• This was the longest White Sox game since their 19-inning marathon against the Boston Red Sox in 2006.
• Bruce Maxwell was the only starter in the game not to record a hit.

The loss puts the Sox at a disappointing 4-11, with losses in 11 of their last 13, heading into an off-day tomorrow.