Chris Taylor hit a game-tying grand slam with two outs in the sixth inning and Freddie Freeman hit a walk off single to center field with the bases loaded in the 11th to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night at Dodgers stadium.
Los Angeles took two of three games in the series while improving to 39-30 on the season. Chicago fell to 30-40 with the loss.
Freeman’s solo hit of the game was a key one as he was held hitless in the series before stepping to the plate.
“I knew I hit it good enough,” Freeman added.
Luis Robert Jr. and Eloy Jiménez got things going early by hitting back-to-back homers in the first inning and Jake Burger and Andrew Vaughn hit consecutive homers in the fourth to give the White Sox a commanding 4-0 lead.
Dylan Cease allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings as the Chicago right-hander struck out six of his first nine batters, finishing with 10 Ks.
Dodgers right-hander Michael Grove battled through five innings, tallying seven strikeouts but allowed four solo homers and seven hits total.
However, Los Angeles received a big boost from their bullpen midway through the game and took full advantage.
Shelby Miller and Yency Almonte added two strikeouts, Evan Phillips added four and the winning pitcher Caleb Ferguson had one to cap six innings of scoreless baseball, allowing only one hit and two walks with nine strikeouts.
“I think the difference tonight was the bullpen,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “You look at those guys and how they covered six innings, and to not give up a run is pretty remarkable.”
Taylor drilled his first grand slam since 2017 in the sixth inning and tied the game up at 4-4.
“It’s pretty cool to do it in that fashion,” said Taylor, who hit his fifth grand slam of his career. “It was a big momentum-changer for us. Getting the series win is the biggest thing.”
After both bullpens battled back-and-forth, Freeman drove a walk-off single to center field in the 11th with the bases loaded to secure a 5-4 win over the White Sox.
“A series win is huge, you can build off those,” Freeman said. “It’s good to be home and good to play some good baseball the last couple days.”
The Dodgers will next prepare for a three-game home series against the San Francisco Giants (36-32) beginning on Friday at 7:10 p.m.
