CHICAGO – A young fan approached near the White Sox dugout 30 minutes prior to Sunday’s series finale against the A’s at Guaranteed Rate Field with the following sign in tow:

“I'm 11 today. My wish is a White Sox win."

Those wishes have been rarely granted this season. But in this instance, the White Sox made it a very happy birthday via a 4-3 victory to improve to 35-115. The win was filled with firsts, even in the 150th contest of a 162-game ledger.

Sean Burke picked up his first career victory in his first career start.

The team’s stretch of 20 straight series losses, dating back to June 28-30 at home against the Rockies, came to an end.

Sunday’s victory -- coupled with Saturday’s walk-off win, courtesy of Andrew Benintendi’s home run -- marked the first time the White Sox have won back-to-back games since June 27 against the Braves and June 28-29 against the Rockies. Since that series victory against Colorado, Chicago had lost 20 straight series.

Rookie Fraser Ellard, who picked up victories in two of the past four White Sox wins, earned his first career save.

Let’s also not forget Grady Sizemore’s first winning streak as interim manager.

“Feels good. It was nice to be in a position to get that series win,” Sizemore said. “Another good game. Played well all around. Great job by the pitching staff. The defense was good. Got some big hits when we needed them.”

“That makes me feel even better than just the win itself,” Burke said. “Getting the guys a series win."

Burke, the No. 29 White Sox prospect, per MLB Pipeline, made his Major League debut on Sept. 10, allowing one unearned run over three innings of relief against the Guardians. That appearance put him a bit more at ease for Sunday, where he recorded 15 whiffs on his 85 pitches, according to Statcast, with seven off his slider and three on the curve.

Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker each struck out on three pitches to open the game, and Burke jumped ahead at 0-2 on JJ Bleday. But his curve landed well out of the zone, missing an immaculate inning by that one pitch. Burke finished with five strikeouts and two walks over five innings, getting touched up by Rooker’s 37th home run in the fifth.

“I'm comfortable. I believe in all my stuff,” Burke said. “I know that I have good secondary stuff too, so there's going to be times where I can still climb the ladder with heaters or blow a fastball by guys. But when guys' reports call for spin, I'm comfortable doing that too."

“We struggled with the curveball yesterday. We struggled with the curveball a little bit today,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “I thought he lacked a little bit of command coming into this in the Minor Leagues, but he was able to command the baseball today. Even though we got some runs off him, we couldn't get the big hit. He executed his pitches with runners in scoring position.”

Gavin Sheets homered for a second straight game to cap off a three-run first, but it was the young White Sox crew joining Burke and Ellard to lead the way. Bryan Ramos, the No. 12 White Sox prospect, homered and notched two hits, while Prelander Berroa, touching 98.7 mph with his fastball, struck out two over 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

Berroa has fanned 16 and allowed one run over his past 10 1/3 innings (eight appearances).

“We do the job together,” Ramos said. “We got the win.”

“First and foremost, just getting a team win is awesome,” Burke said. “We always want to go out and win a series. Overall, it's awesome to contribute and get a win that way."

A six-game road trip to Anaheim and San Diego is on the docket, followed by three at home against the Angels and three in Detroit. The White Sox must finish 8-4 to avoid matching the Modern Era (since 1901) record of 120 losses by the ‘62 Mets. The 2003 Tigers hold the American League mark at 119.

That dubious record isn’t on the collective minds of the players and staff as they look toward these final two weeks.

“Start getting momentum for next year,” Sheets said. “Everybody’s got to be selfish about finishing strong for the team and for themselves.”

“We want to finish as strong as possible,” Sizemore said. “We want to finish playing our best version of baseball. Let’s go out there, get the first game against Anaheim and try to get another series win.”