Shohei Ohtani hit a home run to start the game and later drove in the decisive run with a single, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Led by Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers won their seventh game out of nine. They lead the NL West with a record of 50-31 halfway through the season.
Ohtani smashed a hanging curveball from Chris Flexen into the right-center bullpen for his 24th homer of the season, the most in the NL. White Sox right fielder Tommy Pham tried to catch it with a leap, but missed.
Ohtani also walked and scored on Freeman’s two-run homer in the third inning. In his next at-bat in the fourth, he gave Los Angeles a 4-3 lead with a two-out RBI single.
“It wasn’t an easy pitch to hit, but my goal was to get a base hit,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
Ohtani has now driven in at least one run in his last nine games, matching a team record. The two-time AL MVP has a .306 batting average (26 for 85) with 10 home runs and 22 RBIs in 22 games this month.
“I don’t think there’s much more we can say about him,” Freeman said. “We’ve been saying it since he came into the league, about what an incredible player he is. Sometimes you just have to step back and appreciate a player like this.”
Andrew Benintendi hit a two-run homer for Chicago, which has lost six of its last seven games. Pham walked three times as the leadoff hitter, and Gavin Sheets had two hits.
Chris Flexen (2-7) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander hasn’t won a game in his last nine starts.
“I thought I battled pretty well but obviously it didn’t put us in position to win,” Flexen said. “A few walks, a couple of home runs. Got an early lead, so I’m pretty disappointed about it. Tough game.”
With a record of 21-60, the White Sox have made their worst 81-game start in franchise history. The previous record was 27-54 in 1934 and 1948. They are now 6-15 in one-run games.
