Chicago White Sox starter Davis Martin took a no-hitter into the sixth inning Aug. 17 in Kansas City.
After surrendering a one-out double, Martin retired the next two batters and exited with a two-run lead — but the Royals staged a late rally for a 6-2 victory.
It was the 80th defeat of the season for the Sox. Afterward, the topic of 100 losses came up. It’s not a number Martin thinks about at all.
“You go out and you go do your job and play baseball,” he said. “We have talent, we have the ability, it’s just the little miscues here and there that are going to plague a young team. If we learn from them, I think .500 ball (for the remainder of the season) is definitely in our cards.”
The Sox lost three of their next four and came into Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Twins at Rate Field with a 45-83 record, needing to go 18-16 the rest of the way to avoid a third consecutive 100-loss season.
The Sox entered 2023 with just four 100-loss seasons in franchise history (102 in 1932, 101 in 1948, 106 in 1970 and 100 in 2018). They lost 101 games that season and followed it up by completely falling off the cliff, setting the modern major-league record with 121 defeats.
They’re on pace for 105 losses this season. To finish with fewer than 100, they’ll need a roll similar to the stretch immediately after the All-Star break when they won 10 of 14.
The success after the break started with the offense, which averaged 6.5 runs in the 14 games. That type of production has returned in the past week, with the Sox scoring at least seven runs in three of their last four through Friday.
“We’re taking quality at-bats and we trust the guy next to us and we have good results,” infielder Miguel Vargas said Friday.
Manager Will Venable added Saturday: “Collectively the guys and their effort to commit to getting on some fastballs, making good swing decisions, just running extremely hard and playing extremely hard, guys looking for bunts — doing all the things we’ve asked these guys to do — they’re really embracing those things and doing them at a high level.
“Just the culmination of all those things has our offense in a good spot.”
But it hasn’t led to victories. The Sox won just once in that stretch, part of a larger period featuring 14 losses in 17 games since the strong start to the second half.
Twins shortstop Brooks Lee is congratulated by teammate Byron Buxton (25) after Lee scored in the seventh inning against the White Sox on Aug. 22, 2025, at Rate Field. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Sox had surrendered at least nine runs in three of the last four games entering Saturday. The last seven had been particularly bumpy for the bullpen. Sox relievers allowed 26 runs (23 earned) in 21 innings for a major-league-worst 9.89 ERA in that span.
Four Sox relievers allowed five runs (three earned) in the final four innings of Friday’s 9-7 loss to the Twins.
Venable said after that game he doesn’t see signs of fatigue in the bullpen.
“I don’t think of it like that,” he said. “These guys are in a good spot. We try to be mindful with where they’re at with their usage and not ask too much of them in spots where they’ve been used to a point that we expect them to be less effective.
“So I think we do a thoughtful job of that. It’s about just going out there and competing and filling up the strike zone.”
Friday marked the beginning of a 17-day stretch without a day off. After Sunday’s series finale against the Twins, the Sox play three against the Royals (Monday-Wednesday), four against the New York Yankees (Thursday-Aug. 31), four more against the Twins (Sept. 1-4 in Minneapolis) and three against the Tigers (Sept. 5-7 in Detroit).
They’ll spend most of the last month on the road, where they’re 19-46. They have only nine September home games — Sept. 9-11 against the Tampa Bay Rays, Sept. 15-17 against the Baltimore Orioles and Sept. 19-21 against the San Diego Padres — and 16 road games. After the Twins and Tigers, the Sox will visit the Cleveland Guardians (Sept. 12-14), the Yankees (Sept. 23-25) and the Washington Nationals (Sept. 26-28) to close the season.
They’re a combined 11-32 against the Twins (2-5), Royals (2-8), Tigers (3-7), Rays (2-1), Guardians (2-8) and Orioles (0-3). That needs to improve if the Sox are going to avoid another 100-loss season.
“Continue to learn, continue to get better at the game and do the little things right,” Martin said.