Black Jack stays perfect
1909
The White Sox knock off Walter Johnson and the Washington Senators, 1-0, in 11 innings. Johnson suffered his second straight 1-0 loss. By the end of 1909, he’d have 10 losses by shutouts, which will be more than any other pitcher in the 20th Century. It is also a record-tying third straight 1-0 loss, matching the St. Louis Browns (also in 1909).
1910
White Sox third baseman Bill Purtell became the first big league player to strike out twice in the same inning. Walter Johnson got him both times in the sixth inning in a game at Washington. Between Purtell’s outs, however, the Sox batted around and wound up winning the game, 10-3. The South Siders tagged Johnson with seven runs over five innings.
The loss dropped Johnson to 2-5. The Washington Post suggested after this game that the team should “trade this phenom for a couple of good fielders.”
1913
Continuing this improbable Walter Johnson theme today, The Big Train tossed a two-hitter at the White Sox, extending his consecutive scoreless innings to 52 2⁄3.
1925
Johnny Mostil’s 12th-inning home run upended the Washington Senators, 10-8. That capped a 2-for-5 game that also featured three runs, a double, and two walks for the White Sox leadoff man and center fielder.
The Senators had hung seven runs on future Hall-of-Famer Red Faber in the sixth inning, knocking him from the box. Mostil’s heroics made a winner out of Faber’s fellow future Hall-of-Famer teammate, Ted Lyons, who threw four scoreless innings in working one of his 11 games of relief that season.
Mostil’s 4.6 WAR in 1925 would finish fourth on the White Sox and second among hitters.
Mostil clubbed his game-winner off of ageless Washington reliever Vean Gregg, who at age 40 was back in the majors for the first time since 1918. Gregg had entered the game in the eighth inning and could have been running out of gas.
The Senators were no slouch in 1925, as they won the American League pennant and lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in a Game 7 heartbreaker. For the White Sox, this win pushed them to 14-9 and just two games out of first place — which would end up being the last point of the 1925 season where they were as close to first as two games out.
1985
With the score tied, 1-1, in the third inning, Detroit’s Kirk Gibson clouted a rooftop home run off of future Hall-of-Famer Tom Seaver. That homer would stand up in a 3-1 Tigers win, dropping the upstart White Sox to 12-12.
1992
With a 5-2 at Baltimore, Jack McDowell upped his record to 7-0, becoming the first White Sox pitcher since Joe Horlen in 1967 to start a season so well. McDowell threw eight innings of two-run ball, starting the game with a 2-0 lead thanks to George Bell’s two-run single in the first inning.
Black Jack cooled off after this, losing his next three starts but finishing the year at 20-10 with a majors-best 13 complete games and a runner-up position for AL Cy Young.
2002
It was one of the worst defeats in the history of the franchise. On this night in Anaheim, the White Sox got obliterated, 19-0, against the Angels. Danny Wright, Matt Ginter and Mike Porzio were the pitchers the Angels clubbed apart. Wright gave up eight earned runs, Ginter two and Porzio six.
The game remains the most lopsided shutout in White Sox history, and ties with a 20-1 loss to Minnesota in 2009 as the most lopsided loss in franchise history.