Roki Sasaki, Dodgers get roughed up by White Sox with Shohei Ohtani out

CHICAGO –– With the upstart White Sox unexpectedly in first place, there is an energy pulsing through the South Side of Chicago again.On Friday night, Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki found himself on the wrong side of it.Surrounded by a raucous crowd at Rate Field, and struggling to find his recently improved command, Sasaki and the Dodgers came unglued in a seven-run fifth inning, letting the game get away from them in an 8-2 loss.“As a staff, we’ve done a pretty good job of not allowing the huge inning,” manager Dave Roberts said.“Last couple times, in the last four or five games, we’ve given up big numbers.

Unfortunately, that happens.”Even before first pitch, the Dodgers’ night hadn’t started well.Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup after suffering a knee inflammation injury on Thursday.The makeshift batting order the team was left with included Alex Call in the leadoff spot and Santiago Espinal at DH.Despite that, the Dodgers had an early 2-1 lead –– bouncing back from a solo home run by Andrew Benintendi in the bottom of the first with a two-run single from Espinal in the second.By the time the fifth inning was over, however, everything had changed.The meltdown started with a walk, one of three Sasaki would issue in the inning as his old command problems reared their ugly head.

The young flamethrower wasn’t helped by his defense after that, with Freddie Freeman letting a potential double-play grounder get past him to score the inning’s first run.With that, the score was tied 2-2.The crowd was whipped into an October-like frenzy.

And after former Dodgers prospect Miguel Vargas laced an RBI double off the wall, there was no stopping the shift in momentum.A pair of two-out walks –– the latter with the bases loaded –– chased Sasaki from the game.Blake Treinen replaced him but yielded a two-run single and a two-run triple.

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