Steve Webb
Game 80, 6/24/2024: Dodgers 3, White Sox 0
CHICAGO, IL — Back in the old schoolyard, one kid might say to another, “I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back!” Well, that is essentially what happened in Chicago on Monday night. In a weather-interupted affair, the Dodgers beat the White Sox 3-0 with a depleted lineup. And a few of the Southsiders passed their “auditions” with flying colors. No doubt Andrew Friedman took note.
Starting the series on the southside of Chicago against the White Sox, the Dodgers found themselves down a couple of key righthanded bats. Not only was Mookie Betts out of the lineup, but also Teoscar Hernandez was away from the team, taking care of some personal business in the Dominican Republic. What resulted was one of the better pitchers’ duels of the season. Both starters kept the score at zero until they left the game. It wasn’t until the Dodgers faced the White Sox rickety bullpen that they finally broke through with a few runs, and their own bullpen secured the shutout victory.
James Paxton was coming off two excellent starts and decided to add a third in a row against the struggling White Sox. He faced some early trouble, working around a two-out walk and single in the first and a single and a walk in the third. However, he didn’t face any more challenges the rest of the way, although his outing was cut to five innings due to deep counts and a lot of strikeouts. He ended up with a solid line: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 91 pitches. What was particularly remarkable about this iteration of Paxton was how much swing and miss he was getting on the night, much better in that department than we’re used to seeing from Big Maple. Halfway through the year, we’re seeing a lot better production that any of us had a right to expect from Paxton, given his recent history. It’s looking like quite the pickup by the Friedman braintrust.
Unfortunately for his stat line, Paxton didn’t leave with the lead since Garrett Crochet (Future Dodger! Future Dodger!) was dealing on the other side of the scorecard. Most of the traffic against Crochet came with two outs – two singles in the first and a hit-by-pitch and single in the third. He faced the minimum batters in the second and fourth innings thanks to double plays. Crochet recorded his first clean frame in the fifth and got two outs in the 6th before the bullpen took over as he had reached 91 pitches.
With Crochet out of the game, the Dodgers started to knit together a rally. In the top of the seventh inning, Miguel Rojas doubled, and Enrique Hernandez drove him in with a double of his own, giving the Dodgers their first run of the game.
Chris Taylor then reached on an error by Paul DeJong, which allowed Hernandez to score. Despite loading the bases after a pair of walks, the Dodgers couldn’t add any more runs in the frame. There was a short rain delay at that point, but a half hour later, the Dodgers retook the field to seal the deal.
With Paxton out of the game, it was up to the the Dodgers’ bullpen to hold onto the newly minted lead. Daniel Hudson pitched a scoreless sixth inning, followed by Yohan Ramirez with a clean seventh. Evan Phillips surprisingly took on the middle of the White Sox order and worked around a double to keep the scoreless streak alive.
In the 9th, the Dodgers added an important insurance run. Chris Taylor singled, advanced on a wild pitch, and moved to third on a Jason Heyward groundout. Shohei Ohtani then hit a deep fly ball for a sacrifice fly, making it 3-0. You like to see the Dodgers manufacture runs like this. It’s going to be a separator once October rolls around.
Alex Vesia came in to close out the game in the 9th, and he dominated the bottom of the White Sox order needing just ten pitches to secure the victory. With the win, the Dodgers continued their remarkable streak, now 23-0 in games where Miguel Rojas gets a hit. They will try to make it two in a row against the hapless Southsiders on Tuesday, when they send Bobby Miller out there for his second outing since returning from the IL. It will be righty Chris Flexen on the mound for Chicago, so look for manager Dave Roberts to trot out his lefty-heavy lineup in this one. One more game and the Dodgers will be at the mathmatecial halfway point of the season. It’s been an interesting run so far, with quite a few surprises. We’ll see what the second half has in store for us.
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