The first sellout crowd of the season at Guaranteed Rate Field got to witness an ejection, a Shohei Ohtani home run — and another Chicago White Sox loss.
The Sox were shut out for the 12th time this season, falling 4-0 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in front of 36,225. The Sox hosted their first Mexican Heritage Night, resulting in the first weekday sellout for a game that wasn’t opening day or against the Cubs since 2012.
Manager Pedro Grifol referred to the crowd as “phenomenal.”
“We just couldn’t take advantage of it,” he said.
Dodgers starter Gavin Stone limited the Sox to four hits — a double by Gavin Sheets and singles by Paul DeJong, Lenyn Sosa and Tommy Pham — while going the distance. Stone struck out seven and didn’t allow a walk in the 103-pitch gem.
“Seen him a lot up and through the minor leagues, he’s always had good success,” Sox catcher Korey Lee said of Stone. “Commanded all his pitches today. Threw his fastball and it had a little two-seam running. He got efficient outs, quick outs and that’s the name of the game.”
The Sox were swept in the three-game series, getting blanked Monday (3-0) and Wednesday.
Sheets departed before the sixth inning with a left heel bruise which he suffered while rounding second base on his double leading off the second inning.
“He was thinking about going for three and when he had to stop he kind of jammed that heel,” Grifol said. “X-rays are negative and we’ll see how he shows up tomorrow. We’ll play it day by day.”
Grifol also exited before the sixth but for a different reason. He was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. It was his seventh career ejection and second this season.
“I wasn’t particularly too happy with balls and strikes, especially early on our side with (Sox starter Erick) Fedde,” Grifol said. “From the side, it can be deceiving. The back half of the game I saw inside was pretty good, was called pretty good.”
Fedde allowed four runs on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk in six innings. Reliever Michael Soroka allowed one hit and struck out seven in the final three innings.
The Dodgers didn’t take long to strike as Ohtani led off the game with a home run for the second straight night. He has at least one RBI in 10 consecutive games, a Dodgers record.
“Went in with a plan, tried to execute,” Fedde said of facing Ohtani. “For the most part, that’s a weird situation when you go (to a) 3-2 (count) to start off a game. ‘OK, it’s the leadoff guy, I’m not going to let him on’ and then he’s got a lot of power, so made me pay.”
The Dodgers added three runs in the third, two coming on a double by Freddie Freeman.
“Looking back on that third inning, I think a big part of when you play lineups like this is you’ve got to get the bottom of the lineup out,” Fedde said. “When I flipped the lineup with two guys on and nobody out, it makes my job tough.”
And it was another tough series for the Sox offensively. They went 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position in the three games.
“It was a combination of good pitching, chasing and if they missed out over the plate, we didn’t square it up,” Grifol said. “They have some guys over there with some really good arms. No excuses whatsoever. That’s our jobs, right, to have good at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“We hit a few balls hard today. Just had nothing to show for it.”
The Sox, who have lost 31 of their last 38, fell to 40 games under .500 at 21-61.
Starter Mike Clevinger to restart rehab assignment next week
The Sox returned pitcher Mike Clevinger from his rehab assignment on Wednesday with neck stiffness. He will look to restart the rehab assignment next week, either on Tuesday or Wednesday. Clevinger went on the injured list retroactive to May 25 with right elbow inflammation.
The Sox also announced that Chad Kuhl is slated to start Thursday’s makeup game against the Atlanta Braves at Guaranteed Rate Field.
