James Paxton and four relievers combined on a five-hit shutout as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers opened a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox with a 3-0 victory on Monday.
Daniel Hudson (4-1) pitched a scoreless sixth inning for the win. Yohan Ramirez and Evan Phillips each followed with a scoreless inning, and Alex Vesia retired the White Sox in order in the ninth for his fourth save.
Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas had two hits apiece for the Dodgers, who have won six of their last eight games. Los Angeles is 23-0 this season when Rojas records a hit.
Luis Robert Jr. doubled and walked twice for Chicago, which lost for the fifth time in its last six games.
The Dodgers broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning against Steven Wilson (1-5). Rojas hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on Gavin Lux’s grounder and scored on Enrique Hernandez’s double.
Chris Taylor followed with a grounder to shortstop Paul DeJong, whose errant throw to first allowed Hernandez to score.
Wilson was replaced by Tanner Banks, who retired Jason Heyward and walked Shohei Ohtani before the game was delayed for 30 minutes due to rain.
When play resumed, Justin Anderson walked Will Smith to load the bases, but the White Sox averted further damage when Freeman flied out to left field.
The game’s early innings featured a pitchers’ duel between Paxton and Chicago’s Garrett Crochet.
Crochet, who entered with a 1.68 ERA in his last 10 starts, allowed five hits with no walks and struck out six over 5 2/3 scoreless innings.
Paxton gave up three hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out six while throwing 91 pitches.
Paxton has yielded a total of two runs across 18 innings over his last three starts.
The Dodgers hit into a pair of double plays against Crochet, who threw 91 pitches and was pulled after retiring the first two batters in the sixth inning.
Los Angeles added an insurance run in the ninth inning against Michael Kopech when Taylor scored on Ohtani’s sacrifice fly.
–Field Level Media
