SAN DIEGO — The Chicago White Sox beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 on Sunday after they rallied for three runs in the eighth inning on a soaring home run by Fernando Tatis Jr., tying the 1962 expansion New York Mets' MLB record of 120 losses since 1900.
The White Sox (36-120) led 2-1 on home runs by Corey Lee and Miguel Vargas off Yu Darvish, but the lead quickly evaporated in the eighth inning.
The loss came one day after the White Sox tied the American League record of 119 losses set by the Detroit Tigers in 2003.
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the major league record for losing seasons with a record of 20 wins and 134 losses.
Interim head coach Grady Sizemore had no say in addressing his team after the game.
“It's good to not have a loss,” he said. “It's not something we're focused on. I think everyone outside the clubhouse is more obsessed with it than we are. The way we're going to do it is to put this loss behind us and get ready for the domestic series.”
The White Sox need one more loss with six games remaining to hold the modern-era record. They have already lost three games, starting Tuesday night at home to the Los Angeles Angels and three games against Detroit, who are in the American League wild-card race.
“When you lose 120 pounds, you might not care, but you hate going through that, but that's where it is right now,” veteran Andrew Benintendi said.
The Padres (90-66) won 90 or more games for the first time since 2010, when they finished the season 90-72 but missed the postseason after a terrible September collapse.
The Padres' magic number for clinching their third postseason berth since 2020 is now down to one.
The Padres control their own destiny with a three-game series against the NL West leaders, the Los Angeles Dodgers, that begins Tuesday night, but they must win all three to clinch the division. The Dodgers are three games behind the Padres, but San Diego holds the tiebreaker. San Diego is three games behind Arizona for the NL top wild-card spot. The Padres play three games in Arizona next weekend.
Some in the sellout crowd of 45,197 chanted “Beat Los Angeles!” as Padres players and staff greeted the fans after the final home game of the regular season. San Diego set a franchise record with 3,314,593 fans in attendance over 80 games.
“We haven't lost a game since the first week of baseball this year,” Tatis said. “What we've done here is really special, and we have the talent to go all the way, but now it's time to take it one day at a time.”
Facing Fraser Herrard (2-3), the Padres tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the eighth on consecutive doubles by Donovan Solano and pinch-hitter Luis Arraez, who advanced on a wild pitch and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Jurickson Profar.
Tatis then hit a home run, sending it soaring into the left field stands for his 20th of the season.
“It felt great. I felt like I made it look like it after I hit it,” said Tatis, who walked with energy after smashing a 389-foot home run, staggering to third base.
White Sox rookie Sean Burke, making just his third major league appearance and second start, held the Padres to one run and two hits in six innings, striking out eight and walking one.
“Burke pitched a great game,” Benintendi said. “We have good hitters in our lineup, guys that have been playing a long time. When you get a lead out of the bullpen, it's like the game is pretty much over at this point.”
Lee, who grew up in north San Diego County, hit a line drive down the left field line with one out in the third inning for his 11th home run.
Profar tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a single to left field with one out, his 24th home run of the season, tying the previous career high.
The White Sox regained the lead with one out in the sixth inning on a home run by Vargas to left-center field.
Darvish struck out Jacob Amaya in the third inning to become the first Japanese player to reach 2,000 strikeouts. He recorded nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings Sunday, extending his MLB career record from 12 seasons (2003). Darvish walked nine, allowed two runs and three hits.
Robert Suarez, who has struggled recently, pitched the ninth inning and earned his 34th save.
