OAKLAND, Calif. – The White Sox put to rest one of the hottest runs in franchise history Saturday with a humbling 10-2 defeat to the Athletics.

It isn’t so much that that the stretch of blistering play comes to an end now because the White Sox have dropped five of nine games on their second-half opening, 10-game road trip, although it certainly would be a legitimate reason.

No, the team’s run of stellar play now has a period at the end of it because for the first time in well over a month the White Sox played in a game that wasn’t competitive. There was no strategy for a comeback and the white flag was raised when manager Ozzie Guillen started substituting liberally in the seventh inning.

Not since June 8 against the Cleveland Indians have the White Sox played a game where they didn’t have a chance by the late innings. Since that date, the White Sox have lost just 10 times, including Saturday.

Only twice did they lose by more than two runs in that stretch and the only other time they did, aside from Saturday, was a 7-4 defeat July 16 at Minnesota when they had the bases loaded in the ninth inning with Paul Konerko at the plate.

“When you play baseball it’s going to happen,” said Juan Pierre, who was 0-for-4. “Hopefully you stay hot as long as you can. But the most important thing is to try and win series. We’re in position to do that [Sunday] and if we do that it will be a decent road trip. It won’t be like what we hoped for but at this point you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low.

“It would be nice to win the rest of the games all year long but the chances of that happening are slim. You have to have amnesia when it’s good and bad. That’s what makes this game so tough.”

The White Sox’s 29-10 record since June 8 is still the best in baseball over that stretch so it isn’t as if they are sliding into the abyss. It was just a rare summer day when the pitching and hitting were out to lunch at the same time.

Freddy Garcia was horrible and it isn’t likely that if Omar Vizquel did get to that ball he lost in the sun in the opening inning it would have made much of a difference. The A’s scored three runs in the first inning and three more in the second as Garcia recorded just four outs before he was removed.

“I started with the first guy, walk, so I started with the wrong foot,” Garcia said. “I didn’t really have it. Normally, I have a good changeup, but today … I couldn’t make the pitch I needed. I threw like, what, 50 pitches in the first inning? After that it was pretty much … I couldn’t get anybody out after that.”

The 1 1/3-inning outing, when he gave up five runs on six hits and three walks, was the shortest of Garcia’s career. It put an end to his six-game win streak, his longest since putting together a seven-game streak early in the 2006 season. It was also the end of Garcia’s five-game road win streak.

Thinking he could still salvage the game, Guillen went to the bullpen early. It didn’t work and now the relievers will be short-staffed with rookie Daniel Hudson on the mound in Sunday’s series finale.

Tony Pena came on to give up four runs on four hits with four walks in 3 2/3 innings. Left-hander Erick Threets continues to prove himself, pitching two scoreless innings. He now has six scoreless outings since joining the team in late June.

“We haven’t had many games like that,” Guillen said. “Even when we struggled, we didn’t have many games get away like that. One thing about it, no matter how you lose 1-0, 20-1, you still lose. Hopefully we bounce back, pitch better and score some runs.”

BY THE NUMBERS

30: Number of defeats for the White Sox this season when scoring three runs or less. They have won eight such games. When allowing four runs or more, the White Sox are 16-32.

QUOTE

“The umpire was pretty tight man. I watched the video and felt like I threw some pretty good pitches. For me, I live in the corners. I don’t throw hard. I can’t just throw in the middle. If I don’t have the corners I get [expletive], and that’s what happened. It’s one thing if you can throw a fastball away, but if I don’t have the corners, I have to live with that, man.” – Freddy Garcia, on the strike zone from home-plate umpire Laz Diaz on Saturday.

LOOK AHEAD

Hudson (1-0, 5.06 ERA) will make his third start of the season and just the fifth of his career when he faces Oakland. He has never started against the A’s but does have an appearance against them, giving up two earned runs and five hits over a 2 1/3-inning relief appearance in September of last season. He is coming off a victory at Seattle when he gave up one earned run over 6 2/3 innings.

Hudson will be opposed by Oakland’s Dallas Braden (4-7, 3.74) who is making his second start since coming off the disabled list because of elbow tendinitis. Braden pitched a perfect game May 9 against the Tampa Bay Rays.