Sox

CHICAGO — Dodgers left-hander Jack Dreyer rubbed a new baseball between his hands as he walked back to the mound, a sold-out Rate Field coming alive around him.

Fireworks crackled over the center-field scoreboard. Digital pinwheels spun. Dreyer had just surrendered his second home run of the inning, transforming a low-scoring battle into a lopsided White Sox advantage.

The Dodgers’ recent bullpen problems persisted in a 6-4 loss Sunday, overshadowing a bounce-back effort from Emmet Sheehan. The Dodgers tried to come back in the ninth, but fell short.

“We’ve gotten bit by the long ball, obviously in Pittsburgh, and here tonight,” said bench coach Danny Lehmann, filling in Sunday for manager Dave Roberts while he attended his daughter’s college graduation. “But overall, it’s more the strike throwing and just getting ahead of guys and doing what they’re supposed to do.”

The Dodgers dropped the series 2-1, marking their first series loss since May 8-10 against the Braves.

Sheehan was charged with three runs in five-plus innings, a massive turnaround coming off the second-shortest start of his career, only rivaled by a planned one-inning outing at the end of last season.

Against the Angels last week, Sheehan threw 49 pitches and recorded just four outs before being pulled.

On Sunday, he didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning.

“He got strike one and then understood when to leave the zone when he needed to,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “He did a great job of that. I think a couple of those guys picked up on tendencies, jumped on a pitch. I felt they were good pitches. I thought he did his job today and gave us a chance to win.”

Sheehan’s velocity has been an indicator of how synced up his delivery has been on any given start this season.

Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan delivers against the Chicago White Sox in the first inning Sunday.

(Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)

On Sunday, his 95.1-mph average fastball velocity was 0.7 mph above his season average, according to Statcast — a promising sign. Results followed.

Sheehan retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced, just a hit batter away from perfection. With two outs in the fourth, he gave up a double to Colson Montgomery, on a low line drive up the first-base line, just out of reach of Freddie Freeman as he made a diving attempt.

Then against Braden Montgomery, Sheehan worked back from a 2-1 count for an inning-ending strikeout.

Out of Sheehan’s hand, the pitch looked like it was going to cross the plate on the inside corner, about belt high. But as Montgomery started his swing, the firm changeup veered away from his bat at a sharp downward angle.

Montgomery swung over the pitch. A fired-up Sheehan buried his fist in his glove and shouted. With that strikeout, he preserved the Dodgers’ one-run lead.

Freeman provided that run with a solo homer in the first inning. And Sheehan gave the Dodgers plenty of time to extend that lead. In the sixth inning, however, the White Sox finally got to him.

“I definitely felt better early,” Sheehan said. “And then more of the same towards the end. Just pretty frustrating.”

Sheehan’s fastball to Sam Antonacci wasn’t in a bad spot. But in an 0-2 count, he could have put it a little higher or farther inside. Antonacci drove it over the right-field fence.

A single, a stolen base and an RBI double later, Sheehan walked off the mound, the Dodgers trailing 2-1.

Just a few weeks ago, turning the ball over to the Dodgers’ bullpen was a promising move. They were still riding a franchise-record streak of 38 consecutive scoreless innings.

Lately, however, it’s been a rocky ride. The bullpen entered Sunday with a 6.71 ERA since ending that scoreless streak on May 25. Only the Giants and Rockies produced a worse mark over that stretch.

None of the Dodgers’ relievers have been dominant in recent games. Tanner Scott has been credited with three saves but also two losses. Kyle Hurt’s ERA has risen from 0.60 to 4.22. Dreyer, who went 10 straight games without giving up a run before landing on the injured list with left shoulder discomfort, has surrendered five home runs in seven appearances since returning on May 31.

Dreyer gave up three runs and three hits. Then Blake Treinen and Jonathan Hernández held the White Sox the rest of the way.

The Dodgers tacked on three more runs, on a sacrifice fly and an RBI double from Alex Freeland, and a solo homer from Mookie Betts. They stranded runners at the corners in the ninth.

Travis d’Arnaud hit a three-run homer, Walbert Ureña threw six innings of two-hit ball, and the Angels defeated the Chicago White Sox 8-2 on Wednesday.

The Angels won a series for the first time since April 10-12 at Cincinnati. The Angels (15-23) are 2-7-2 in series this season.

D’Arnaud’s 396-foot shot off Noah Schultz (2-2), the backup catcher’s first homer of the season, kicked off a five-run second inning for the Halos. After Bryce Teodosio doubled on a ball that got past right fielder Jarred Kelenic, Zach Neto hit a stand-up RBI triple.

Mike Trout brought one more across with an infield popup that second baseman Chase Meidroth lost in the afternoon sun for a single.

Jorge Soler and Jo Adell were hit by back-to-back pitches from reliever Osvaldo Bido with the bases loaded to bring in two runs in the fourth.

Ureña (1-3) allowed one run, struck out five and walked three in his second quality start of the season. Brent Suter, Drew Pomeranz and Chase Silseth completed a four-hitter.

Meidroth had two hits for Chicago (17-20). Standout rookie Munetaka Murakami, who is tied for the major league lead with 14 home runs, struck out four times for the second time this season.

Schultz allowed seven hits and seven runs in 3⅔ innings. He had allowed a total of six earned runs in four previous starts this year.

Up next for the Angels: Open a three-game series at Toronto on Friday with LHP Reid Detmers (1-2, 4.28) facing Blue Jays RHP Dylan Cease (2-1, 3.05).

Mike Trout, Jorge Soler and Zach Neto hit home runs, Ryan Zeferjahn worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning and the Angels held on for a 4-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

Zeferjahn hit a batter and walked two in the ninth before retiring Edgar Quero on a groundout for his first save this season and his third in 10 career opportunities. The right-hander struck out rookie home run leader Munetaka Murakami — tied with the Yankees’ Aaron Judge at 14 — with a runner on first to get the final out in the eighth.

Trout hit his 11th homer of the season and the 415th of his career with one out in the first off Erick Fedde (0-4) after Chicago scored two runs off Sam Aldegheri in the top half.

Soler followed with his eighth homer one out later to tie it 2-2.

Neto homered for the first time since April 10, a tiebreaking two-out shot in the fifth for his sixth of the season. Trout walked for the second time before scoring from first on a double by Nolan Schanuel to make it 4-2 and chase Fedde. Trout reached base four times with a single in the eighth.

Neto ended an 0-for-23 slump with a third-inning single before getting picked off.

Chase Meidroth hit his second homer leading off the seventh against Sam Bachman to get Chicago within 4-3. Both Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas extended their on-base streaks to 18 games for the Sox.

José Fermin (1-1) pitched a scoreless fifth for the win. Aldegheri gave up two runs on four hits in four innings in his sixth career start.

Fedde yielded four runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings.

The top four hitters in the Angels’ lineup drove in a run for the first time since June 18, 2021, against the Tigers.

Everything we know about Alex Cora during his rudely interrupted tenure as manager of the Boston Red Sox lines up almost perfectly with everything we knew about him as a Dodgers player more than 20 years ago.

He communicates exceptionally well. He quietly makes a positive contribution. He handles failure admirably. Win or lose, he exhibits class.

Nothing has tested those traits more than what Cora, 50, endured over the last week. The man known throughout baseball as AC was fired by Boston on April 26, turned down an offer to manage the Philadelphia Phillies a day later, then while home in Puerto Rico saw that an ultimatum he made last season to general manager Craig Breslow was reported by the Boston Globe.

Cora somehow found time to pen an expression of gratitude to the Red Sox organization and fans.

“Thank you for treating me with respect and most importantly accept me as AC,” he wrote. “I’m grateful for this experience, it made me better….

“Thank you for the hard work, sleepless nights, professionalism and effort to help me lead this great organization.”

Communication and class until the end, no doubt. Yet the single blemish on his resume is eternally painful to Dodgers fans.

Alex Cora was fired as manager of the Boston Red Sox on April 26.

(Nick Wass/AP)

Cora was the Houston Astros bench coach in 2017 when the Dodgers were victimized by a sign-stealing scheme during the World Series, which the Astros won in seven games.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred released a report in January 2020 that detailed how in 2017 and 2018 the Astros illegally used electronic equipment to steal signs. Cora was central to the scheme, the report saying he “arranged for a video-room technician to install a monitor displaying the center-field camera feed immediately outside of the Astros dugout.”

By 2020, though, Cora was beloved in Boston for piloting the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series championship over the Dodgers in his first season as manager. Nevertheless he was fired a day after the report was released and suspended by MLB for the 2020 season.

Cora was rehired as Boston’s manager after serving his suspension, stating he would apologize for the rest of his life. And on the first day of spring training in 2023, he addressed his role in the scandal, apologizing to three new Red Sox players who were Dodgers in 2017: Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner and Kiké Hernandez.

Dodgers second baseman Alex Cora during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers in May 2004.

(Morry Gash / Associated Press)

The mea culpa was well-received by the trio and underscored Cora’s ability to smooth over even the most awkward situations.

“I’m going to be 100% honest with you — I just felt like I wanted to cry at that moment when he said that,” Jansen told a Boston radio station. “I felt like a weight came off.”

It’s now known that Cora backed his coaches when Breslow wanted to fire several of them last season. The Globe reported that Cora told the general manager that the Red Sox would have to fire him as well.

Breslow backed down then but not last week, firing five coaches along with Cora.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombroski responded swiftly, making Cora an offer even before firing manager Rob Thomson on Tuesday. The well-traveled Dombroski has led four franchises to a World Series — an MLB record — including one alongside Cora with the Red Sox in 2018, and the offer to jump to the Phillies was tempting.

But Cora put family first, telling Dombroski he wanted to take time with his fiancée, Angelica, and twin 8-year-old sons, Xander and Isander. After all, he is still under contract with the Red Sox through 2027, and is owed $14 million.

That’s about what he earned in 14 seasons as an infielder properly labeled as a good-field, no-hit, great clubhouse presence. Cora was the Dodgers’ primary shortstop in 2000 and 2001, then moved to second base through 2004.

The Dodgers’ center fielder from 2002 to the 2004 midseason was Dave Roberts, the current Dodgers manager who remains a close friend of Cora. The 2018 World Series was the first to feature two minority managers — a point of pride for the Puerto Rican-born Cora and Roberts, who is half-black and half-Japanese.

Cora won a World Series as a Red Sox reserve in 2007 and finished with a career batting average of .243 with a paltry 35 home runs in 3,825 plate appearances — the most memorable of which came May 12, 2004.

Cora capped an 18-pitch at-bat that included 14 foul balls with a home run against Chicago Cubs right-hander Matt Clement.

“What a moment! 9:23 on the scoreboard, if you want to write it down for history. What an at-bat!” Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully exclaimed. “That’s one of the finest at-bats I’ve ever seen, and to top it off with a home run, that is really shocking.”

Cora took a curtain call from the Dodger Stadium crowd and Scully said, “Yeah take a bow, Alex! You deserve it and then some!”

What Cora almost undoubtedly has earned now is another shot at managing. His 620-541 record is well above average. His reputation — sign-stealing scandal notwithstanding — is glowing.

The Phillies hired former Dodgers manager Don Mattingly on an interim basis and likely will circle back to Cora after the season. If not, other teams are expected to come calling.

CHICAGO — Drew Romo hit the first two home runs of his career as the Chicago White Sox beat the Angels 5-2 on Tuesday night. It was the fifth loss in a row for the Angels.

Colson Montgomery homered in the second off Angels starter José Soriano (5-1), ending his shutout streak at 25 2/3 innings. The right-hander gave up three runs and six hits over five innings, raising his major league-leading ERA from 0.24 to 0.84.

Davis Martin (4-1) outpitched Soriano, giving up one run and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. Martin struck out seven and walked one.

Sean Newcomb fanned three in 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Seranthony Domínguez worked a hitless ninth for his seventh save.

Josh Lowe homered for the Angels, and Jo Adell had an RBI single.