The Chicago White Sox pounced on Roki Sasaki during a seven-run fifth inning to beat the Dodgers 8-2 in Friday night’s series opener at Rate Field.
The first four batters reached against Sasaki in the fifth inning, including a two-run double off the right field wall by old friend Miguel Vargas to give Chicago the lead. Sasaki did not walk a batter in any of his first four frames, but walked three batters in the fifth inning, including free passes on eight total pitches to his final two batters faced,
the latter driving in a run. Sasaki hadn’t walked more than two batters in any of his previous eight starts.
All three bequeathed runners scored off reliever Blake Treinen, plus one of his own. Sasaki’s seven total runs allowed matched his total earned runs over his previous five starts combined.
Sasaki fell behind Andrew Benintendi and a 3-1 fastball caught a little too much of the plate for a solo shot to open the scoring. He’s done a pretty good job of cutting down on the long balls, even with the home run by Benintendi. After allowing three home runs to the Chicago Cubs on April 25, Sasaki has allowed only four home runs over his last seven starts.
He even led 2-1 before the disastrous fifth inning, and those two runs were hard to come by for the Dodgers.
Entering Friday, White Sox starter Anthony Kay ranked 95th in strikeout-minus-walk rate (7.2 percent) among the 102 major league pitchers with at least 60 innings. But on Friday the left-hander struck out a season-high seven against only one walk, including six strikeouts in the first three innings.
Kay got the Dodgers to chase more than usual, as his 18 swinging strikes on Friday were three more than any of his previous 57 appearances in his six major league seasons.
With Shohei Ohtani not starting on Friday while dealing with left knee inflammation, designated hitter duties fell to Santiago Espinal, who made his third start since returning to the roster two weeks ago. His two-run single in the second inning gave the Dodgers an early lead. It’s been a strong road trip for Espinal, who did not start any of the games in Pittsburgh but had three hits in four at-bats as a reserve against the Pirates.
White Sox pitchers retired the final 19 Dodgers batters.
Notes
- Seven runs is the most runs allowed by the Dodgers in an inning this season, surpassing the six-run seventh inning by the Angels last Sunday at Dodger Stadium. On this road trip, the Dodgers have allowed innings of seven, five, four, and three runs.
- Alex Freeland did not start Friday but played the final three innings at shortstop. That’s his natural position, though this was his first time in 76 career major league games playing at shortstop.
- Catcher Chuckie Robinson, called up Thursday with Will Smith on the injured list, took a foul ball off his left knee in the sixth inning and was tended to by a trainer, but remained behind the plate for the rest of the game.
Friday particulars
Home run: Andrew Benintendi (7)
WP — Anthony Kay (6-1): 5 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts
LP — Roki Sasaki (3-4): 4 1/3 IP, seven hits, 6 runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Up next
Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound for the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon (1:10 p.m. PT; SportsNet LA, MLB Network), with right-hander Sean Burke going for the White Sox.
