Dustin May pitched into the eighth inning for the first time in his career as the Los Angeles Dodgers finished off a three-game sweep with a 6-2 victory over the visiting Chicago White Sox on Thursday.
Freddie Freeman drove in a total of three runs on two doubles and Michael Conforto and Mookie Betts each hit a home run as the Dodgers won for the ninth time in 10 games.
May (5-5) retired the first 16 batters he faced and matched a season high with nine strikeouts over seven-plus innings. He allowed two runs on four hits and one walk in one of his best starts since returning from Tommy John surgery in April.
Brooks Baldwin spoiled May’s shutout bid with a two-run homer in the eighth, his fourth of the season.
White Sox right-hander Aaron Civale (1-5) allowed five runs, two earned, on five hits and two walks over five innings. He struck out four as Chicago was swept in a series of at least three games for the ninth time this year.
Baldwin delivered the first hit for the White Sox on a ground-ball single to right field with one out in the sixth.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Shohei Ohtani led off with a walk and scored from first on a one-out double to right field by Freeman.
Ohtani walked again to open the third inning, and Mookie Betts reached base on a fielder’s choice and an error by White Sox shortstop Chase Meidroth. Freeman doubled to left field to bring home both runners for a 3-0 lead.
Three batters later, Conforto homered to right for a 5-0 advantage. It was Conforto’s seventh long ball of the year.
White Sox right fielder Mike Tauchman took a home run away from Freeman in the fifth when he reached over the short wall, while on the run, to make the catch.
Los Angeles’ Teoscar Hernandez recorded his 1,000th career hit in the fifth on a single past third baseman Josh Rojas.
Betts homered in the seventh inning, his 10th of the season and his first in 21 games.
The Dodgers were without third baseman Max Muncy, who went on the injured list after he came away with a bone bruise in his left knee during the Wednesday game.
Outfielder Esteury Ruiz, called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City to fill the roster spot, made his major league season debut as an eighth-inning defensive replacement.
–Field Level Media
