White Sox lose 119th game to tie the AL record as the Padres win 6-2 behind 3 home runs

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Chicago White Sox tied the American League record with their 119th loss on Saturday night, when Xander Bogaerts and Elias Díaz each hit a two-run homer to help the San Diego Padres win 6-2 and move closer to a playoff spot.

The White Sox (36-119) matched the AL mark set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers, who finished 43-119. One more defeat for Chicago over its final seven games would equal the post-1900 record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets. Chicago is 9-48 since the All-Star break.

The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the major league record for losses at 20-134.

Chris Flexen (2-15) remained winless in his last 23 starts, and the White Sox dropped their 20th straight road series.

David Peralta also homered for the Padres (89-66), who moved within three games of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West with seven to play. San Diego maintained a two-game lead over Arizona for the top NL wild card.

The surging Padres reduced their magic number to two for clinching their second playoff berth in three seasons. They got no help from Atlanta or the New York Mets, who both won Saturday.

The White Sox forced extra innings Friday night before the Padres prevailed 3-2.

“They've been playing some good baseball these last couple of days,” Bogaerts said. “Obviously we want to win every game by a big margin, but these guys are putting up a fight. They're trying to be spoilers. Nothing's been given easy to us these last couple of days. It's been nice to be able to fight for it a little bit more than people would have expected.”

Bogaerts gave the Padres a 2-0 lead with his shot to left-center field off Flexen with no outs in the second inning. It was Bogaerts' 11th homer and it came with rookie Jackson Merrill aboard on a leadoff single.

Peralta homered with one out in the third, his eighth. Merrill, considered by some the front-runner for NL Rookie of the Year, hit an RBI single in the fifth.

Díaz hit a two-run shot in the eighth off former Padres reliever Enyel De Los Santos. It was his sixth.

Lenyn Sosa hit an RBI single in the sixth for the White Sox off Martín Pérez (5-5). Bryan Ramos drew a bases-loaded walk from Padres reliever Jason Adam in the eighth.

Pérez held Chicago to one run and two hits in 5 1/3 innings, struck out six and walked three.

“We've got to stay focused. I know it's only two games, but we still have a long week and we have to just finish strong,” said Pérez, who came over from the Pittsburgh Pirates at the trade deadline.

He was backed by some outstanding defense. Third baseman Manny Machado made a nice stop of a grounder by Miguel Vargas on the game's first pitch, and left fielder Jurickson Profar made a sensational diving catch of Chuckie Robinson's sinking liner to end the seventh.

“This is a good team. We've got good guys and we're fighting for the same thing,” Pérez said.

Tanner Scott got five outs for his 22nd save.

Flexen allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings, struck out three and walked two.

TRAINER'S ROOM

White Sox: Returned RHP Michael Soroka from a rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte and reinstated him from the injured list. Designated RHP Chad Kuhl for assignment. Returned RHP Jordan Leasure from his rehab assignment, reinstated him from the IL and optioned him to Charlotte.

UP NEXT

White Sox RHP Sean Burke (1-0, 2.25 ERA) and Padres RHP Yu Darvish (6-3, 3.21) are scheduled to start Sunday's series finale.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Flexen throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Flexen throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

San Diego Padres first baseman Luis Arraez, left, forces out Chicago White Sox's Miguel Vargas during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

San Diego Padres' Jackson Merrill celebrates in the dugout after scoring off a two-run home run hit by Xander Bogaerts during the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

San Diego Padres' Xander Bogaerts, left, celebrates a two-run home run with third base coach Tim Leiper during the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

San Diego Padres' Xander Bogaerts runs after hitting a two-run home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

San Diego Padres' Xander Bogaerts, right, celebrates a two-run home run with third base coach Tim Leiper during the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Chicago White Sox's Lenyn Sosa reacts after being hit by a pitch from San Diego Padres relief pitcher Jason Adam during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. is unable to handle a double hit by San Diego Padres' Jurickson Profar during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israeli troops raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Sunday, ordering the bureau to shut down amid a widening campaign by Israel targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it covers the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. It follows an extraordinary order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera's broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites.

The move marked the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country. However, Al Jazeera has continued operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, territories that the Palestinians hope to have for their future state.

There was no immediate acknowledgement of the shutdown by Israeli forces. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Al Jazeera denounced the move as it continued broadcasting live from Amman in neighboring Jordan.

Armed Israeli troops entered the office and told a reporter live on air it would be shut down, saying that staff needed to leave immediately. The network later aired what appeared to be Israel troops tearing down a banner on a balcony used by the Al Jazeera office. Al Jazeera said it bore an image of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist shot dead by Israeli forces in May 2022.

“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, in the live footage. “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.”

Al-Omari later said that Israeli troops began confiscating documents and equipment in the bureau, as tear gas and gunshots could be seen and heard in the area.

The Palestinians secured limited self-rule in Gaza and parts of the occupied West Bank through the 1993 Oslo agreements. While Israel occupies and controls vast areas of the West Bank, Ramallah is under full Palestinian political and security control, making the Israeli raid on the Al Jazeera office that much more surprising.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate denounced the Israeli raid and order.

“This arbitrary military decision is a new aggression against journalistic work and media outlets," it said.

The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the West Bank. Its forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007, and it has no power there.

The network has reported on the Israeli-Hamas war nonstop since the militants’ initial cross-border attack on Oct. 7 and has maintained 24-hour coverage in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s grinding ground offensive that has killed and wounded members of its staff. It remains unclear whether the Israeli military would target Al Jazeera's operation in Gaza as well.

While including on-the-ground reporting of the war’s casualties, Al Jazeera's Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other regional militant groups.

That has led to Israeli claims by officials up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the network has “harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers.” Those claims have been vehemently denied by Al Jazeera, whose main funder, Qatar, has been key in negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire to end the war.

An order closing Al Jazeera in Israel has been repeatedly renewed in the time since, but it hadn't as of yet ordered the Ramallah offices closed.

The Israeli government has taken action against individual reporters over the decades since its founding in 1948, but broadly allows for a rambunctious media scene that includes foreign bureaus from around the world, even from Arab nations. It also blocked the foreign broadcasts of the Hezbollah-affiliated, Beirut-based Al Mayadeen news channel at the start of the war.

Criticism of Al Jazeera is not new. The U.S. government singled out the broadcaster during America’s occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and for airing videos of the late al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

Al Jazeera has been closed or blocked by other Mideast governments.

Most notably in 2013, Egyptian authorities raided a luxury hotel used by Al Jazeera as an operating base after the military takeover that followed mass protests against President Mohammed Morsi. Three Al Jazeera staff members received 10-year prison sentences, but were released in 2015 following widespread international criticism.

The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between fighters and civilians.

The closure of Al Jazeera's Ramallah office also comes as tensions continue to rise over a possible expansion of the war to Lebanon, where electronic devices exploded last week in a likely sabotage campaign by Israel targeting the Shiite militia Hezbollah.

The explosions Tuesday and Wednesday killed at least 37 people — including two children — and wounded around 3,000 others.

This image made from video provided by Al Jazeera English shows Israeli troops raiding their bureau in Ramallah, West Bank, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Al Jazeera via AP)

This image made from video provided by Al Jazeera English shows Israeli troops raiding their bureau in Ramallah, West Bank, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Al Jazeera via AP)

This image made from video provided by Al Jazeera English shows Israeli troops raiding their bureau in Ramallah, West Bank, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Al Jazeera via AP)

FILE - Al Jazeera broadcast engineer Mohammad Salameh works at the Master Control Room unit inside the network's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)