Tonight effectively summed up the state of the Chicago White Sox, in that the professionalism usually takes a dip whenever Garrett Crochet isn't on the field.
Crochet kept the Dodgers off the board for 5⅔ innings, but when a different White Sox pitcher opened the inning, the cracks opened wide enough for legitimate opportunities to arise. The Dodgers converted well enough, while James Paxton and four Los Angeles relievers combined to hand the Sox their 11th shutout of the season.
Steven Wilson was able to finish Crochet's inning in the sixth, but Miguel Rojas greeted him with a double to open the seventh, and the pressure yielded results. Rojas advanced to third on Gavin Lux's 3-unassisted groundout, which was almost an infield single because Wilson forgot to cover the bag, but Vaughn won a footrace to first base. Kiké Hernández then dropped an RBI double into left field, and came around to score when Paul DeJong bounced an off-balance throw past Vaughn for an error.
The Dodgers tacked on an unnecessary insurance run when Michael Kopech allowed an opposite-field single to .139-hitting Chris Taylor. Taylor then took second on a wild pitch and scored on two productive outs.
Against Crochet, the Dodgers could only scatter five singles and a hit batter. They did mount a couple of two-out threats, notching two infield singles in the first, then pairing a plunking with a single in the third. When leadoff batters reached in the second and fourth, he recorded double plays, including a rock-solid 1-4-3. Crochet then finished his night by retiring the last seven. Were his career-high workload not being monitored, he would've been able to finish the sixth without issue, and probably start the seventh as well. Instead, Pedro Grifol ended his streak of quality starts at six.
The White Sox offense hadn't been shut out since Mother's Day, so they were due. They were held to five hits and three walks, and didn't come up with an extra-base hit until Luis Robert Jr.'s one-out double in the eighth. Robert also drew two of those walks, so if the Dodgers intended to not let Robert beat them, mission accomplished.
Notes:
*DeJong had a poor night defensively. Along with the error, he extended Crochet's first inning by casually playing Freeman's broken-bat grounder into an infield single that forced Crochet to throw nine extra pitches.
*Crochet recorded 18 whiffs on 91 pitches, taking advantage of a Dodgers lineup missing two dangerous right-handed bats. Mookie Betts is on the IL with a broken hand, while Teoscar Hernández isn't with the team due to a personal matter.
*Crochet held Shohei Ohtani hitless in three at-bats, striking him out twice.
*A pop-up thunderstorm caused a 30-minute rain delay during the seventh inning.
