White Sox 1, Athletics 0: Marcus Semien homered while Chris Sale outdueled fellow left-hander Scott Kazmir as host Chicago took three of four from Oakland.

Sale (12-3) allowed two singles and a pair of walks while striking out nine over eight innings for the White Sox, who won for only the seventh time in their last 22 contests. Jose Abreu, Avisail Garcia and Conor Gillaspie were the only other Chicago hitters to reach base.

Jed Lowrie accounted for both hits off Sale for Oakland, which remained in the first wild-card slot in the American League despite its 11th loss in 14 games but fell a season-high 10 games back of the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West. Kazmir (14-8) dropped his third straight decision despite posting his second complete game of the season, permitting a run on four hits while fanning seven.

Sale walked Coco Crisp to begin the game and yielded a one-out hit in the second before retiring 17 in a row prior to Lowrie’s single to open the eighth. Kazmir was nearly flawless through five innings as well, yielding a walk in the second and a two-out single in the fourth – both to Garcia.

Semien broke the scoreless tie in the sixth, sending a 1-0 curveball into the left-field seats for his first home run since April 23. Sale ran into trouble in the eighth after Alberto Callaspo drew a two-out walk three batters after Lowrie’s leadoff single, but the three-time All-Star got Crisp to ground out and Jake Petricka worked around a leadoff single from Sam Fuld in the ninth for his 13th save.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Chicago won the season series (4-3) for only the third time in the last 14 years despite getting outscored 34-18. … Kazmir is 0-5 in his last seven starts against the White Sox. … Oakland fell to 20-25 in one-run contests, including 1-7 in September.