Not much has gone right for the White Sox who lost their 112th game of the season on Monday. Following their 5-3 defeat to the Guardians the White Sox are only eight losses away from the modern MLB record for most losses in a single season.
The 2024 season has already featured three losing streaks of ten-plus games, no other team in the MLB has lost ten consecutive games this season. Two of those three losing streaks include losing a franchise record 14 games between May 22 and June 6, only to break that record months later by dropping 21 games in a row. However, one streak, held by White Sox starter Chris Flexen, has flown under the radar.
Flexen took the ball at Fenway Park on Sunday for his 27th start of the season. Entering that start, the White Sox had lost 20 consecutive games in which Flexen had started, setting a new MLB record. According to ESPN Stats and Info, the previous mark of 19 in a row was set back in 1909. Flexen finally snapped that streak by throwing six innings of two-run ball during the White Sox 7-2 victory over the Red Sox. He allowed six hits, and one walk and struck out six en route to a quality start.
Flexen has not been great this season, but he is certainly not the sole reason the White Sox had dropped 20 in a row when he took the ball. During the White Sox losing streak in games he started, Flexen made it through six innings in six of them. He allowed 66 runs during that 20-game stretch for an average of 3.14 runs per start. Of those 66 runs, 59 were earned.
In 143.2 innings this season Flexen owns a 2-14 record with a 5.26 ERA, 16.5 percent strikeout rate, one of the worst in the MLB amongst qualified starters, and a 9.1 percent walk rate. However, he does own a 1.1 WAR and a 4.93 expected ERA.
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