CHICAGO - Their chances of winning the AL West have pretty much slipped away. Now, the Oakland Athletics need to score some runs before they lose a playoff spot altogether.
The A’s continued their free-fall Thursday, when Chris Sale bested Scott Kazmir in a brilliant pitchers’ duel, light-hitting Marcus Semien homered for the only run and the Chicago White Sox won 1-0.
The A’s lost for the 11th time in 14 games. Their lead in the AL wild-card race dwindled to one game over Detroit and 1½ over Seattle, both of which were idle.
“We’re playing for our lives now,” manager Bob Melvin conceded. “I mean, that’s just the way it is. We put ourselves in this position.”
The A’s, 10 games games behind the Angels, start a three-game series in Seattle tonight.
Facing Sale, Oakland posed its only threat in the eighth, when Jed Lowrie singled and Alberto Callaspo drew a two-out walk. Coco Crisp bounced out to end the inning.
Sale (12-3) gave up two hits in eight innings, both of them singles to Lowrie. Between the hits, the All-Star left-hander retired 17 batters in order. He struck out nine and walked two.
Jake Petricka pitched the ninth, yielding one hit, and got his 13th save in 16 tries.
Sale lowered his ERA to an AL-best 1.99, boosting his bid to become the first White Sox pitcher to lead the league in the category since Joe Horlen in 1967.
“Right up there,” Lowrie said when asked where Sale ranked among starting pitchers. “Off-hand, I can’t give you a number, but he’s one of the better ones in the game.”
Yet the Athletics have had to tip their caps too many times since the All-Star break. They’ve scored more than three runs only 15 times in the 39 games since slugger Yoenis Cespedes was traded to Boston on July 31.
Melvin suggested his team might need to return to its loose ways. “We’ve been two different teams - the one that played through July and the one that’s at this point right now,” he said.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: