2-out damage too much for Chicago White Sox to overcome in 6-1 loss to Los Angeles Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — Chicago White Sox starter Shane Smith was one out away from a perfect first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers after retiring Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

But that third out was a challenge.

Smith walked Will Smith and Max Muncy, then surrendered an RBI single to Teoscar Hernández, an RBI double to Andy Pages and a two-run single to Michael Conforto.

When the inning ended, the Sox found themselves facing a four-run deficit.

“Get two quick outs in the first and then walk two guys, that just kills you,” Smith said. “Can’t take those back, but feel like after that, I executed. But things happen. I can’t go back and redo it. Really tough. Didn’t give my team a chance to win, and that just sucks for me.”

Two-out damage was too much to overcome for the Sox, who lost 6-1 in front of 51,368 on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” Smith said. “You get to positions to be successful, and then you don’t make pitches.

“The Pages at-bat, I left a curveball with two strikes right over the middle of the plate. If it’s executed, maybe it’s a swing and miss, maybe not, but throwing it right down the middle with two guys on that you walked — you have to stop the bleeding somehow, and I wasn’t able to do that.”

Smith allowed six runs on six hits with six strikeouts and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.

“I felt really good coming into today,” he said. “Body in the right spot, mind in the right spot. You just have to bunker down in that first, especially. Didn’t set the tone for the day, for the team. Didn’t execute.

“If you give good teams the chance to beat you, they are going to do it. But if you do things the right way and execute and make two-strike pitches, things can go your way. So eliminate chances for other teams to exploit the bad pitches you make or those two-strike pitches you don’t get to where you want. Eliminate those.”

All six runs he allowed came with two outs.

“(Smith) got off to a really good start,” manager Will Venable said. “We knew going in that if we walked these guys that we were going to be in trouble. It manifested there in the first inning. He looked good. Outside of that, he pitched pretty well. Just got to find a way to get back on track there.”

After the four-run first, Smith had a perfect second that included striking out Ohtani and Freeman.

He surrendered a leadoff single in the third to Will Smith, who advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on a grounder. Pages drove him home with a two-out single.

The Sox scored in the fourth on an RBI double by Lenyn Sosa, but the Dodgers answered in the bottom of the inning with another two-out run.

Smith struck out the first two batters of the fourth. He then went to a full count against Ohtani, who homered to right — his 30th of the season.

Smith is looking to get back in a rhythm after allowing 16 earned runs in 11 innings over his last three outings.

“I felt like St. Louis (on June 17) was a little different than Arizona (on June 23),” Smith said. “St. Louis I didn’t really get mashed around the ballpark. Just kind of bad plays for me and walks (six runs, five earned in 4 1/3 innings with two strikeouts and three walks). And Arizona I got hit around a little bit (five runs in two innings). Today, just the first inning kills you.

“A lot to learn, and I’m learning every day. Trying to continue to do that. At some point, you have to turn the ship around. I’m just trying to do that.”

The Sox couldn’t get much going offensively against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers bullpen, finishing with just three hits. Sosa had two of them, a single in the second and the RBI double in the fourth. Andrew Benintendi singled and scored in the fourth.

Yamamoto allowed one run on three hits with eight strikeouts and one walk in seven innings.

“Yamamoto was really good,” Venable said. “Just good stuff. Beat us in about every way you could. Three hits spread out over nine innings isn’t going to do it. Just got to find a way to string together some at-bats. But again, credit to Yamamoto, he pitched great.”