The Los Angeles Dodgers took the field Saturday night against the Chicago White Sox looking to avoid a split-squad sweep as their ninth-inning rally fell short in a loss to the Seattle Mariners earlier in the afternoon.
Zach Lee was on the mound for another audition to be named the Dodgers’ fifth starting pitcher come the regular season. It’s a position Lee was previously in during camp, though lost out to Mike Bolsinger.
Brandon Beachy’s recent bout with elbow tendinitis and Bolsinger’s oblique injury has put Lee back in the conversation, along with Carlos Frias.
Frias allowed six hits and had three strikeouts in four scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. While the Dodgers didn’t put together another rout, they provided early run support for Lee.
A Justin Turner walk and Adrian Gonzalez base hit put two runners on for Austin Barnes with two outs in the first inning. Carson Fulmer allowed the first run to come across on a ball-four wild pitch to Barnes:
Then with the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the third, Barnes cashed in Turner’s leadoff double with a little luck as his RBI infield single gave the Dodgers the lead:
After hitting a one-out single in the fifth, Turner was replaced by pinch-runner Adam Law, who raced around to score on a Gonzalez RBI double:
The Dodgers’ scoring continued and concluded in the sixth inning, with Cody Bellinger and Willie Calhoun combining for back-to-back solo home runs:
The White Sox scored one run in the seventh inning and another in the eighth, but fell short as Jamey Wright earned the save in the Dodgers’ 5-4 win.
