Esteury Ruiz’s milestone stolen bases the lone highlight in Oakland A’s loss at White Sox
Esteury Ruiz became the eighth A’s player to steal 50 bases in a single season in Oakland’s 6-1 loss to the host Chicago White Sox.
On Sunday, speedster Esteury Ruiz joined an elite group of A’s with 50 stolen bases, then quickly added stolen base No. 51.
But that was the only highlight for Oakland on Sunday, as the White Sox defeated the A’s 6-1 to split the four-game series on Chicago’s south side.
Ruiz stole his 50th base of the season off the first pitch White Sox starter Mike Clevinger threw to Ryan Noda after leading off the sixth with a single.
Ruiz became the eighth player in A’s franchise history to steal 50 bases in a season, and the first since Rajai Davis in 2010.
Ruiz broke his tie with Davis quickly, stealing base No. 51 after Noda popped out and with Zach Gelof at the plate. The stolen bases contributed to Gelof’s deep fly out to left field being turned into a sacrifice fly, scoring Oakland’s lone run of the game.
Rickey Henderson (nine times with the A’s), Bert Campaneris (seven times), Eddie Collins (five times), Bill North (three times), Don Baylor, Miguel Dilone, Davis, and now Ruiz are the Athletics players who have stolen 50 or more bases in a season.
While Ruiz won’t be able to match Henderson’s MLB record of 130 stolen bases in a single season, his 51 are the most by an A’s player since Henderson stole 66 bases in 1998.
Ruiz’s 51 stolen bases lead the American League and are second in baseball overall, trailing Atlanta’s Ronald Acua Jr.’s 59 (as of Sunday). Ruiz’s total is more impressive because he missed a month due to a shoulder injury, meaning he’s only appeared in 104 of Oakland’s 131 games so far.
Ruiz’s single to lead off the sixth inning was the A’s first hit of the day and the only one off Clevinger in seven innings, as he struck out 10 and walked two to earn his sixth win of the season.
“That was a really good outing by Clev,” said Chicago manager Pedro Grifol. “That’s the same guy I’ve seen for years, even back when he was in Cleveland.”
Clevinger (6-6) walked two batters while striking out ten for the 13th time in his career. He is 3-2 with a 2.31 ERA in six starts since being activated from the injured list on July 29 due to right biceps inflammation.
Chicago’s Yoán Moncada went 4 for 4, and Tim Anderson, Andrew Benintendi, and Andrew Vaughn each had two hits.
For the A’s, Paul Blackburn (3-4) allowed four runs in six innings of work.
“Paul threw the ball really well, much better than the line shows,” said Oakland manager Mark Kotsay. “The Diaz play, I believe they called it a hit and an error, and he’s out by 10 feet if we make a good throw.” We must improve our defense. We have a lot of discussions about it. This is one of our worst defensive games in at least a month.”
Kotsay and right fielder Seth Brown were both ejected in the sixth inning after Brown struck out.
The A’s will travel to Seattle for the first of three games against the Mariners, who have won all seven games against Oakland this season. While the A’s have yet to name a starter, Alameda’s Bryan Woo (1-3, 4.58 ERA) will take the mound for Seattle.
This report relied on information from the Associated Press.
