The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Dodgers kick off homestand with convincing win
LOS ANGELES >> The Dodgers arrived home from a losing road trip in need of a convincing win.
One game into their new homestand, the Dodgers haven’t trailed on the scoreboard.
Tony Gonsolin threw six shutout innings en route to a 5-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox before an announced crowd of 45,561 at Dodger Stadium.
Two-run home runs in the first inning from Will Smith and David Peralta staked Gonsolin to a 4-0 lead. In the sixth inning, Jason Heyward singled, went to second base on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a sacrifice fly by Miguel Vargas.
The five runs were more than enough for the Dodgers (38-29) to kick off a three-game series with a win over the White Sox (29-39).
Gonsolin’s fastball velocity was diminished but his results were not.
The right-hander walked two batters and allowed two singles — one as a result of a mental error by second baseman Miguel Vargas — and struck out six batters in six innings.
Gonsolin relied heavily on his split-fingered fastball, throwing it 34 times — more than any other pitch in his 90-pitch effort. It generated seven swings and misses. His overreliance on the splitter might have been a matter of need.
Gonsolin’s four-seam fastball averaged 91.1 mph, down 1.4 mph from his season average. It did not generate a single swing and miss. Yet it did not yield any hard contact, either, and Gonsolin lowered his ERA for the season to 1.93.
A right forearm strain limited Gonsolin to seven starts in the second half of last season, following a first half in which he went 11-0 and was selected to the National League All-star team. He missed nearly the first month of the 2023 regular season with an ankle sprain. Gonsolin hasn’t missed a turn in the rotation since; manager Dave Roberts reiterated that he is not guarding against any unreported health issues.
Gonsolin’s pitch count was extended Tuesday by a clean single by Andrew Vaughn, and many more things out of his control.
In the first inning, home plate umpire Brian O’nora called a 2-and-2 slider to Luis Robert Jr. a ball. The pitch was so close to being an inning-ending strike, Gonsolin began walking off the mound. He stayed on the mound, walked Robert, and threw a total of five more pitches in the inning.
Caleb Ferguson and Evan Phillips each threw a scoreless inning in relief. The Sox got their only run against Dodgers pitcher Tayler Scott on a double, a fielders’ choice, and a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning.