The Associated Press
Matt Schoch
CHICAGO–While the Chicago White Sox are looking to the future as their top prospect made his debut with the club, the L.A. Dodgers are just fine in the present.
The MLB-best Dodgers slugged their way to a 9-1 victory last night in a rain-shortened game–winning their 11th-straight and spoiling the White Sox debut of Yoan Moncada.
Kike Hernandez homered in his first two at-bats, breaking out of a 1-for-23 slump, in helping the Dodgers to their 31st victory in 35 games.
The game was called in the top of the eighth inning after a 37-minute delay.
“The confidence that we have in our group that we’re going to win a game on a particular night is real,” said Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts.
“The talent in the room is real, the confidence that we have in each other is real,” he stressed.
“Now it’s just going out there and doing it.
“You can talk about expecting to win, but you’ve got to do it to really believe in it–and we’re doing it,” he added.
Hernandez had solo home runs in the second and fourth innings–his second career multi-homer game.
His approach to breaking out was simple.
“I told myself to swing at strikes and I did,” Hernandez noted.
“We’re trying to ride it out as long as possible but we feel like we’re the team to beat.”
Chicago starter Carlos Rodon (1-3) allowed home runs to his first batter–Chris Taylor led the game off with one–and his last as Corey Seager’s two-run homer in the fourth chased him.
Seager’s blast was his 44th as a shortstop, passing Rafael Furcal for most career homers from the position in franchise history.
Moncada, a second baseman acquired in December as the main piece in a trade with Boston for ace Chris Sale, batted sixth and was hitless in two at-bats.
He drew a walk in his first plate appearance for the White Sox, then grounded out in the fourth inning and flied out in the sixth.
“I was excited with the way the fans treated me and how they were cheering for me,” Moncada said through a translator.
“I felt good. I executed my plan,” he added.
“I didn’t get any base hits but I hit the ball hard.”
The White Sox sold about 5,000 tickets yesterday partly in response to Moncada’s call-up from ‘AAA’ Charlotte, according to the team.
The fans hung on every pitch of his first plate appearance, where he worked an 0-2 count for a nine-pitch walk.
After Taylor’s home run, Melky Cabrera answered with a solo shot in the bottom of the first to tie the score.
Rodon allowed three walks and struck out four.
Kenta Maeda (8-4) allowed one run and five hits in five innings, striking out three.
Reliever Ross Stribling threw two scoreless innings, retiring the final six batters he faced.
Three-straight doubles by Yaisiel Puig, Trayce Thompson, and Taylor, and RBI singles from Seager and Justin Turner, in the four-run sixth inning closed the scoring for the Dodgers, who have won 14-of-15 games.
San Francisco edged Cleveland 5-4 and the L.A. Angels blanked Washington 7-0 in other inter-league action.
