The Los Angeles Dodgers’ struggles against the Pittsburgh Pirates continued Wednesday in an 8-4 loss. It amounted to a series sweep, which was the Pirates’ first at Dodger Stadium since Sept. 4-6, 2000.
Mitch White initially kept the game at 1-0 as he settled in after a shaky first inning. The right-hander retired 13 of 14 batters faced before walking Ke’Bryan Hayes with two outs in the fifth inning.
That proved costly as White hung a curveball to Bryan Reynolds that was sent into the right field pavilion for a two-run home run that gave the Pirates a 3-1 lead.
“The at-bat before threw non competitive pitches, wasn’t great, but other than that, you know, I really struggled to spin the ball a little bit and then having to adjust myself,” White said after the game.
Despite allowing the costly home run, White still enjoyed one of his best performances of the season. He yielded just the three runs on four hits and collected a career-high seven strikeouts over five innings pitched.
The outing followed a scoreless effort in his last start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 26. “Oh, definitely. Yeah,” White answered when asked if he has been able to build off his last few appearances.
“I mean, in terms of all the stuff I’ve been working on with Mark (Prior) and Connor (McGuiness), our pitching coaches, everything kind of came together better. Obviously it wasn’t perfect, but we’re getting there.”
Now in his third big league season, White has pitched to a 1-1 record, 4.79 ERA, 4.21 FIP and 1.21 WHIP over 20.2 innings this year (eight games, three starts).
White credits aggressive approach with curveball
After giving up the home run to Reynolds, White noted he took a more deliberate approach with his breaking ball. “It was like the curveball was kind of slipping out,” White began.
“I just kind of found a way to, I think for me in my mind, is just to rip it and to be aggressive with it instead of kind of babying it out.”
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