Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani didn’t waste a minute, leading off the team’s 4-3 victory Tuesday against the White Sox with a home run into the visitors’ bullpen at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Fans who came to see Ohtani, who leads the National League with 24 homers, got what they wanted to see and what they probably expected to see — another Sox loss that left them with a 21-60 record at the halfway point of the season.
Ohtani’s 376-foot shot against right-hander Chris Flexen barely missed the glove of right fielder Tommy Pham at the top of the fence. He has at least one RBI in nine consecutive games, matching a franchise record last accomplished by Roy Campanella in 1955.
The Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the first against right-hander Bobby Miller, two on Andrew Benintendi’s sixth homer of the season.
But Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer in the third and Ohtani’s go-ahead single with two outs in the fourth were all the Dodgers needed from there as the Sox went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
‘‘It’s been tough,’’ Benintendi said of the Sox’ first half. ‘‘It might look a lot uglier than it actually is. We’ve played a lot of one-run ballgames. We’ve put together one, two good weeks. But we’ve got 81 games left. Just keep trucking, keep working on things, keep getting better.’’
Flexen (5.13 ERA) allowed four runs and six hits, struck out three and walked three in 5‰ innings, throwing 106 pitches.
‘‘Flexen pitched his [butt] off,’’ manager Pedro Grifol said. “Just couldn’t capitalize with runners in scoring position and men on base.’’
Crochet’s workload
Left-hander Garrett Crochet is easing into a time of reduced workload. His start Monday abruptly was halted at 91 pitches while he cruising with a shutout in the sixth.
Easing up on Crochet has been in the forecast for some time.
‘‘There’s a plan in place,’’ Grifol said. ‘‘I’m not going to post that plan for everybody to see it because there’s nothing black-and-white in this game. Everything’s always gray, and you can always make adjustments to everything. It all depends on the stress he’s going through every inning.’’
Crochet is at 17 starts and 94⅓ innings after throwing 12⅓ innings in relief last season and missing all of 2022 after Tommy John surgery. He has a 3.05 ERA, leads the majors with 12.59 strikeouts per nine innings and is second with 124 strikeouts.
Advice for Robert Jr.: Don’t chase
Luis Robert Jr. was hesitant to take big leads off first base earlier in his career, apprehensive about getting picked off. He also hates getting called out on strikes, so he sometimes chases pitches out of the zone with two strikes, although his overall chase rate is down of late.
‘‘We have to remind him to swing at good pitches, regardless,’’ Grifol said.
The belief is that Robert can be a devastating hitter with better control of the zone.
Wednesday sellout
The series finale Wednesday is sold out. The series has attracted many Dodgers and Ohtani fans, and Wednesday is Mexican Heritage Night with a jersey giveaway. The game Monday drew 25,070 fans, and the paid crowd Tuesday was 23,662.
Through 38 home games, the Sox are averaging 16,892 in attendance, which ranks 26th among 30 teams. They averaged 21,405 last season, ranking 24th.
Sale to face Sox
The Braves changed their starting pitcher for the makeup game at 3:10 p.m. Thursday from right-hander Charlie Morton to former Sox left-hander Chris Sale. Rookie right-hander Drew Thorpe will start for the Sox.