CHICAGO – One of the most incredible finishes for the White Sox in years couldn’t erase what had happened the other 29 days of the month.
Down by four heading into the ninth inning, the White Sox stunned the MLB-leading Rays by putting up seven runs in the ninth. Andrew Vaughn’s walk-off three-run homer gave the team an improbable 12-9 victory to snap a ten-game losing streak.
It’s the team’s largest ninth inning comeback for a win since September 7, 2007 against the Twins, when they trailed by six going into the ninth, tied it, then won in extra innings. To find the last time the White Sox won in the final frame down at least four runs, you have to go back to April 28, 2004, when they trailed Cleveland 8-4 in the ninth before winning 9-8.
But that only put a brief positive shine on what was a terrible month of April for the club, who’ve put themselves into a hole to start the 2023 season while also making some history of the wrong kind.
The team’s performance during that month was one of the worst for the White Sox since they began play in 1901 as they finished 7-20 in April with a .259 winning percentage. It’s put them nine games back of the Twins for first in the American League Central with an overall record of 8-21.
It’s not the worst in the history of the club, and in fact, they’ve had one even worse within the last five years. Unfortunately, that came in a year in which they weren’t expected to win as their rebuilding to solidify the current core had begun, not like 2023 where they’ve hoped to compete for a playoff spot.
That was in 2018 when the club went 6-18 (.250) on their way to a 62-100 season under second year manager Rick Renteria with a host of young players on the MLB roster.
Here’s a list of the worst months of April with at least ten games played.
- 1968 – 2-12 – .143
- 1923 – 2-9 – .182
- 1942 – 3-12 – .200
- 1958 – 3-9 – .250
- 2018 – 6-18 – .250
- 2023 – 7-20 – .259
Of the five teams listed above, only the 1958 team was able to rally to finish over .500, going 82-72-1, so first year manager Pedro Grifol has his hands full to overcome the bad start.
The White Sox host first place Minnesota for a three-game series starting at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday at 6:10 p.m. on Tuesday.
