AJ Pollock, Jake Burger and Reese McGuire drove in four runs over a three-hitter span in the sixth inning to back Michael Kopech’s six shutout frames and lift the host Chicago White Sox to a 4-0 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.
Chicago had lost six of seven and seven of nine before winning the final two games of a road series in Tampa Bay over the weekend. Tuesday’s victory gave the club its first three-game winning streak since a six-game tear from May 2-8.
Kopech (2-2) limited the Dodgers to one hit and one walk while striking out eight in six innings. He set down the first eight Dodgers in order before walking Gavin Lux with two out in the third. Will Smith singled in the fourth for Los Angeles’ lone hit against Kopech.
The Dodgers have lost three in a row and six of eight. Los Angeles collected 5 hits, none for extra bases, and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Chicago broke things open with a four-run sixth against relievers Phil Bickford (0-1) and David Price. Both Dodgers allowed a pair of runs. Pollock delivered a go-ahead, two-run double against Bickford Price before Burger followed with a run-scoring double of his own.
Four relievers followed Kopech as Chicago capped the shutout.
After retiring the White Sox in order in each of the first four innings, Dodgers starter Mitch White quickly encountered trouble in the fifth. Jose Abreu grounded a single up the middle to lead off the inning as the team loaded the bases with one out.
White escaped damage with two straight strikeouts, getting Reese McGuire looking and Josh Harrison swinging on three pitches. Those proved to be the final two hitters for White, who scattered two hits and five strikeouts in five scoreless innings.
The outing marked the second straight start in which White worked five innings. He started the season in the Dodgers’ bullpen.
Abreu had two hits for Chicago.
–Field Level Media