CHICAGO — Tony Gonsolin’s breakout season rolls on.
The Dodgers right-hander held the Chicago White Sox to three hits over six innings in a 4-1 victory on Wednesday night, becoming the kind of pitcher who stops losing streaks now. The Dodgers had lost their previous three games.
Gonsolin ran his record to 7-0. His ERA stands at a National League-low 1.58 after he allowed fewer than two runs for the eighth time in his 11 starts. Gonsolin has gone six innings in each of his past five (after never doing it back-to-back outings before in the big leagues) and has now reached a career high in innings pitched (57) during a big-league season.
Gonsolin struck out five, finishing strong by getting three of those against the last five batters he faced.
He started strong too. Gonsolin retired 12 of the first 14 White Sox batters, pausing only for a two-out single by Jake Burger in the second inning and a hit batter to start the fourth.
The fifth inning was Gonsolin’s only bump in the road.
Burger got him for a leadoff home run. A double by Gavin Sheets and a walk of AJ Pollock put two more runners on with no outs.
But Gonsolin escaped with no more damage. Danny Mendick bounced into a forceout, Leury Garcia struck out and Luis Robert flew out.
The Dodgers sent Gonsolin to the mound with a lead after Will Smith followed Trea Turner’s two-out bloop single in the first with a home run 397 feet into the left field seats.
An inning later, Cody Bellinger led off with a line drive into the right field seats off White Sox starter Johnny Cueto, making it a 3-0 cushion for Gonsolin.
The early offense was almost the only offense from the Dodgers. Cueto gave up just one more hit in his six innings – an infield single by Gavin Lux in the fifth that knocked the glove off of Cueto’s hand.
Eleven Dodgers went down in order against Cueto and the White Sox bullpen before Trea Turner led off the ninth inning with a home run.
Yency Almonte, Brusdar Graterol and Daniel Hudson combined to close it out with a scoreless inning each.
