The Chicago White Sox nearly spoiled Yu Darvish’s 31st birthday and debut at Dodger Stadium by clubbing three home runs off the right-hander, but Yasiel Puig’s walk-off two-run double lifted the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-4 comeback victory.
Carlos Rodon, Juan Minaya and Gregory Infante combined to retire eight batters in a row before Cody Bellinger’s pinch-hit single off Aaron Bummer with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Bellinger’s streak of starts was snapped at 31 games, though he’s appeared in each of the Dodgers’ 99 games since making his MLB debut.
Jake Petricka entered and promptly allowed an RBI double to Forsythe and single to Barnes. That brought Puig to the plate with runners at the corners, and he found the left-center field gap for the game-winning hit.
After back-to-back 10-strikeout games with the Dodgers, Darvish only managed two on the night. That snapped a streak of 124 starts to begin his career with at least three strikeouts. Just as they did against Alex Wood, the White Sox struck early.
Darvish’s first pitch was pulled down the line by Leury Garcia and hit off the right-field foul pole for a home run. It marked the first time in White Sox franchise history they hit a home run on the first pitch in consecutive games.
Nicky Delmonico was next to hit a solo homer off Darvish, doing so in the fourth to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead. Jose Abreu then broke up a tie with a leadoff home run in the sixth inning.
With one out and Delmonico on third base, Darvish collected back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. He was visited on the mound by Dodgers head athletic trainer Nate Lucero and manager Dave Roberts while warming up for the seventh inning and promptly lifted from the game.
While the Dodgers managed to get to Carlos Rodon in his start at Guaranteed Rate Field, they largely spun their wheels Wednesday night. Logan Forsythe led off the second inning with a double, advanced to third base on Austin Barnes’ groundout, and only scored because of a wild pitch.
Chris Taylor worked a one-out walk in the third inning, only to be caught leaning and picked off. That proved costly as Corey Seager pulled a single into right field. He was subsequently stranded by Justin Turner.
Kiké Hernandez’s line-drive solo home run tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. The homer was Hernandez’s third this season off Rodon. Yasiel Puig later walked but was caught stealing to end the inning.
Turner’s fly ball to shallow center field dropped for a one-out single in the bottom of the sixth. He stole second base, which in some sense was offset by Hernandez drawing a walk. With the tying and go-ahead runs on base, Forsythe grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Playing in just his 13th career game, Delmonico jumped on the first pitch he saw from Tony Watson to lead off the eighth inning with a home run, giving Delmonico a multi-homer night. In the end, it was all for naught.
