Surging White Sox soar home after sweep

OAKLAND, Calif. - Jeff Samardzija spent the first two days of the series catching up with old friends. He spent the last day making trouble for them.

Avisal Garcia hit a 2-run homer, Alexei Ramirez had 2 hits and 2 RBI and Samardzija pitched 8 strong innings to help the White Sox beat the Athletics 7-3 Sunday for their first series sweep in Oakland in 18 years.

"We haven't had too many good trips here," White Sox manager Robin Venture said. "The first thing is we got good pitching. We counted on that and those guys did it."

Jose Abreu and Gordon Beckham also drove in runs for the White Sox, who won their sixth straight and reached .500 for the first time this season.

"Being .500 is important," Samardzija said. "You want to be around .500 come summer and fall, knowing you're in the hunt."

Max Muncy hit his first major-league home run, a 2-run shot in the fourth, as the A's lost their fourth straight and fell to 1-12 in day games.

Samardzija (3-2) allowed 3 runs and 8 hits. He walked three and struck out five in his return to Oakland, where he made 16 starts for the A's last year.

"I have a lot of respect for that team," Samardzija said. "I've never seen a team who played so hard, day in and day out. I loved being part of that."

Scott Kazmir (2-2) left with one out in the fifth after giving up 5 runs - 3 earned - and 7 hits. He walked three and struck out six.

Kazmir's fielding error in the first led to the White Sox' first run. Ramirez's 2-run single in the fifth ticked off Kazmir's glove and deflected into left field.

"I wish I could have been a little more efficient early on and made a couple of plays," Kazmir said. "It would have been a totally different ballgame."

Garcia hit his fourth home run of the year off A's closer Tyler Clippard in the ninth.

The A's committed 4 errors, increasing their major-league lead to 42. They have made at least 1 error in each of their last 14 games.

, 21 overall, the club's longest streak since a 17-game span in May 1982.

"It's just snowballing on us right now. Guys are thinking about it out there," said A's manager Bob Melvin. "They don't want to make an error and they end up doing it. We're not playing clean games at this point. They are ugly games and it affects how you play them. It affects your confidence."

The errors have led to 29 unearned runs, most in the majors.