Chase Meidroth stars as the White Sox beat the Dodgers 8-2 in matchup of division leaders

CHICAGO (AP) — Chase Meidroth had three hits and two RBIs, and the Chicago White Sox beat the depleted Los Angeles Dodgers 8-2 on Friday night in a matchup of division leaders.

Andrew Benintendi homered as Chicago improved to 19-3 in its last 22 home games. Miguel Vargas hit a tiebreaking RBI double, and Anthony Kay (6-1) struck out seven in five effective innings.

Los Angeles played without Shohei Ohtani, who was sidelined by left knee inflammation. Ohtani, who is batting .400 (8 for 20) with three homers and seven RBIs in his last five games, is day to day.

Santiago Espinal, who subbed for Ohtani at designated hitter, drove in two runs on an early single. Roki Sasaki (3-4) allowed seven runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings for the NL West leaders.

Chicago sent 11 batters to the plate while scoring seven times in the fifth, delighting a sellout crowd of 37,882 at Rate Field.

Vargas’ opposite-field drive off the wall in right-center lifted the White Sox to a 3-2 lead. Back-to-back walks for Colson Montgomery and Braden Montgomery produced another run.

Meidroth then greeted Blake Treinen with a two-run single. One batter later, Tristan Peters tacked on a two-run triple for the surprising AL Central leaders.

Meidroth is batting .340 (16 for 47) during a 12-game hitting streak. He has reached base safely in 22 straight games.

Vargas had three hits against his former team. The infielder was traded from the Dodgers to the White Sox in July 2024.

Sasaki struck out four and walked three. The Japanese right-hander went 2-0 with a 1.48 ERA in his previous four starts.

Up next

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-4, 2.68 ERA) starts for the Dodgers on Saturday, and fellow right-hander Sean Burke (3-3, 3.88 ERA) takes the mound for the White Sox.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb