White Sox defeat A's, halt AL-record losing streak at 21

OAKLAND, Calif. — So this is what victory feels like.

The White Sox long had forgotten.

But after losing their American League-record-tying 21st game in a row on Monday, the Sox found a way to grind one out Tuesday, defeating the Athletics 5-1 before 5,867 fans at Oakland Coliseum.

Andrew Benintendi hit a two-run home run against Ross Stripling in the fourth inning, Andrew Vaughn had an RBI single and Brooks Baldwin scored on a wild pitch in a two-run sixth and Lenyn Sosa had an RBI single in the ninth.

Right-hander Jonathan Cannon escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first and went on to allow one run and six hits with five strikeouts in six innings.

The Sox (28-88), who haven’t won a series since June, have a chance to win one Wednesday. At 60 games below .500, the Sox stopped their skid two losses shy of the 1961 Phillies’ major-league record of 23 in a row, but they remain on pace to break the expansion 1962 Mets’ record of 120 losses.

To say the feeling of winning had become foreign to the Sox is an understatement.

Manager Pedro Grifol was asked before the game how it was going to feel when they finally won again.

‘‘I don’t know, I haven’t felt that in about three weeks,’’ Grifol said. ‘‘I’m sure there will be relief, just get it behind us. Just go play the last 40-something games, whatever we have left. I’ll wait until we win a game and see what it feels like. I’ll make sure you’re the first guy I tell. I’ll buy you a beer.’’

Grifol knows his job status is precarious, even with a season left on his three-year contract, but he has leaned on his faith and stayed upbeat throughout this most challenging time.

While Benintendi — whose 10th homer of the season with Luis Robert Jr. on base gave the Sox a 2-0 lead— said he didn’t know what the Phillies’ record was, most players seemed to.

‘‘Yeah, it’s all over social media,’’ reliever Steven Wilson said. ‘‘Two more games.’’

Playing on the field where Raiders owner Al Davis coined the phrase ‘‘Just win, baby,’’ the Sox really, really wanted to.

Any old kind of victory would do.

‘‘We’re trying to win one; we don’t really care,’’ Wilson said. ‘‘We’re at 21 in a row. At game 14, we weren’t like: ‘We can’t lose 24.’ It was, ‘Let’s win one today.’ ’’

Dominic Leone, who just returned from the 60-day injured list and was pitching for the first time since May 20, worked a scoreless seventh, Chad Kuhl pitched a scoreless eighth and John Brebbia wrapped it up in the ninth.

The Sox not only had lost 21 in a row, but they had dropped 24 of their last 25. They were the second team to lose 88-plus times in the first 115 games of a season.

It won’t get easier in the final seven weeks. After the A’s, the Sox play the Cubs at home Friday and Saturday, host the Yankees (67-46) early next week, then go on the road to play the resurgent Astros (58-55), who started 12-24, and the Giants (57-58), who’ve won nine of their last 13.

The A’s seemed beatable with Stripling (2-11) pitching, but no one had been beatable for the Sox recently. Zack Gelof’s 14th homer in the fourth cut the Sox’ lead to 2-1.

‘‘You expect to win every day,’’ Benintendi said. ‘‘You prepare to win. We haven’t, but nothing changes as far as preparation.’’

And how does he deal with the unending defeats?

‘‘It’s on to the next one for me,’’ Benintendi said. ‘‘I can only speak for myself, so what’s done is done. I don’t spend any more time thinking about it. A short-term memory is something everyone in this game has had for 20 years. Control what you can control, and that’s today.’’