Dodgers open the floodgates in the 8th to beat White Sox

Bruised but not battered, a hit by pitch scored the go-ahead run to start a five-run rally in the eighth inning that gave the Dodgers a 6-1 win over the White Sox on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

The win put the Dodgers at 50 games over .500 (84-34) for the first time in franchise history since 1953, and the victory gave the Dodgers 50 home wins for a third straight season for the first time ever.

Batting with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning, mired in a 1-for-38 slump that dropped him to eighth in the batting order, Joc Pederson was hit by a pitch from Jake Petricka to force home Yasmani Grandal, giving the Dodgers their first lead of the game at 2-1.

But that was just the start of the scoring, with Austin Barnes and Corey Seager each adding two-run singles to blow open what was a close pitching duel.

Barnes’ single was his team-leading seventh pinch hit of the season. He is 7-for-22 (.318) with two doubles and five RBI as a pinch hitter this season.

Brandon Morrow picked up his fifth win of the season by inducing three harmless ground balls against the heart of the White Sox order in a tie game in the top of the eighth.

Wood stingy again

Tim Anderson hit the first pitch from Alex Wood over the wall in left center field for a quick 1-0 lead for the White Sox. It was the fifth leadoff home run allowed by the Dodgers this season — A.J. Pollock, Curtis Granderson (twice), and Michael Conforto were the others — but the only one on the first pitch.

But that was pretty much it against Wood, who struck out six and allowed just five more hits the rest of the way. The final hit was a leadoff double by Leury Garcia in the seventh inning in a 1-1 tie. After Garcia advanced to third base on a ground ball, Wood induced one more ground out and then struck out pinch hitter Alen Hanson to strand the go-ahead run.

Wood was very efficient, needing just 79 pitches in his seven frames, but was done after the seventh because his spot in the batting order came up in the bottom of the inning. Wood, who lowered his ERA to 2.30 -- which would rank third in the National League -- is getting closer to qualifying for the leaderboard, now at 117⅓ innings through 118 team games.

More of the same

After playing pepper with the warning track in the first few innings -- Pederson twice, Grandal, and Puig all made loud outs -- the Dodgers finally broke through against Miguel Gonzalez in the sixth inning.

Cody Bellinger and Grandal singled with one out, followed by a four-pitch walk to Puig, then Logan Forsythe cashed in the tying run with a sacrifice fly to right field to score Bellinger, though Grandal ended the threat of a bigger inning by getting caught between second and third base.

Bellinger, who also walked twice on Tuesday, has eight hits and four walks in 17 plate appearances over his last four games.

Gonzalez, who allowed just one run and five hits in six innings to the Dodgers on July 18 in Chicago, allowed just one run and five hits in six innings again on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. He suffered the tough-luck 1-0 loss back in July, but on this night was left with a no-decision.

Doubling up

Seager doubled in the third inning, his 30th of the season after hitting 40 doubles as a rookie in 2016. Seager, on pace for 41 doubles, joins former Brooklyn outfielder Pete Reiser as the only Dodgers with a pair of 30-double seasons through their age-23 season.

Up next

Yu Darvish makes his Dodger Stadium debut on Wednesday night in the series and homestand finale, with lefty Carlos Rodon pitching for the White Sox, a 7:10 p.m. PT start.

Game info

Home run: Tim Anderson (14)

WP - Brandon Morrow (5-0): 1 IP, zeroes

LP - Juan Minaya (1-1): 1+ IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts