OAKLAND -- As the White Sox road trip came to an end on Sunday, it did so with a lineup that provided too little, too late.

After falling behind the A's early, a late rally proved futile in a 6-4 loss, as the South Siders' record fell to 4-6 on the 10-game road swing.

Rookie right-hander Dan Hudson took to the mound on Sunday and struggled with his control all afternoon, putting the White Sox in a tough position to come back from the early deficit. Hudson, who was making his third start since filling in for the injured Jake Peavy, allowed five earned runs on six hits and four walks over five innings.

"Today showed it's a lot more difficult to pitch and a lot easier to hit when you're behind 2-0, 3-1 every hitter," Hudson said. "It seemed like I couldn't throw a strike unless I was 2-0 on everybody. It's just really frustrating because I'm better than that -- I know I'm better than that."

Hudson said he felt fine in the bullpen before the game, but he knew it wasn't his day once the contest started. According to manager Ozzie Guillen, Hudson was plagued with ineffective offspeed stuff.

"The secondary pitches got to be better," Guillen said. "Sliders and changeups -- they have to be more consistent. You're not going to survive in the big leagues with just one pitch. You got to throw a secondary pitch for a strike and be more consistent."

Ultimately, Hudson's fatal inning was the second frame, when he served up a pair of two-out, two-run singles. After giving up a leadoff walk to Mark Ellis and a single to Matt Watson, Hudson walked Coco Crisp to load the bases.

Daric Barton then delivered a single into right field to score Ellis and Watson on an 0-2 pitch, before Kurt Suzuki blooped one to center in between three White Sox to extend Oakland's lead to 4-1.

"I was probably about six inches away from getting out of that second inning," Hudson said. "I threw some 0-2 pitches that were too good to hit that inning, and after that I couldn't really find the strike zone at all."

Alexei Ramirez scored the game's initial run in the first inning on a double by Paul Konerko down the right-field line. After that, though, the White Sox lineup went largely silent until a binge of singles in the seventh.

A's starter Dallas Braden went 6 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five. According to Suzuki, Braden's sinker was especially effective on Sunday and the 26-year-old southpaw did a good job of mixing up speeds. Braden also secured his first win in 10 tries since throwing baseball's 19th perfect game on May 9.

"I can quit answering calls from the Oakland Zoo looking for the monkey on my back," Braden said.

Still, Guillen didn't sound like he was overly impressed with Braden after his outing on Sunday.

"He's a character," Guillen said. "Kooky son of a gun. That's all I can say. I don't see anything special -- he beat us. He beat us because he threw strikes, changed speeds and he gave his team a good chance to win.

"But he's only another guy on the mound. I don't see anything special. Congratulations about the perfect game. If Mark Buehrle can throw a perfect game, everybody can."

The White Sox finally chased Braden from the mound in the seventh after two of the three batters he faced hit singles. After Gordon Beckham struck out for the second out of the inning, a trio of White Sox -- Juan Pierre, Ramirez and Alex Rios -- successively delivered RBI singles to make the score 6-4.

"We put the game back in a position to make it a close game," Guillen said. "I'm not excited or happy about it, I thought we were going to play a little bit better, but it's a long road trip and hopefully we can go home and play better than we did on this road trip."

Oakland scored its sixth run in unorthodox fashion, as Crisp scored all the way from first after an errant pickoff throw from reliever Erick Threets.

Speaking of relievers, Bobby Jenks made his first appearance since being told to "regroup" following his blown save and loss in Seattle on Wednesday. Jenks struck out one batter as he threw a scoreless eighth inning and allowed a single to A's reserve Matt Carson, who eventually stole second and reached third on a passed ball before being stranded.

"I had the same mindset as if we were up one to three runs," Jenks said. "I take a situation like that and you got to turn it into a mental challenge to stay focused and to approach it as if it was a save situation."