CHICAGO (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit another leadoff homer and Gavin Stone pitched a four-hitter, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 4-0 on Wednesday night for their fourth consecutive win.
Ohtani drove a full-count cut fastball from Erick Fedde deep to right-center for his NL-leading 25th homer. The 437-foot drive had a 113.9 mph exit velocity.
Ohtani's third leadoff homer this season extended his RBI streak to a franchise-record 10 games. The two-time AL MVP also hit a leadoff drive in Los Angeles' 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.
“There's been a lot of opportunities with runners on base,” Ohtani said through a translator. “All I'm trying to do is have a quality at-bat. So I think that (RBI streak) is the result of that.”
Stone (9-2) struck out seven and walked none in his first career complete game, providing a big lift for the NL West leaders after their bullpen accounted for 11 scoreless innings over the first two games of the sweep. The right-hander improved to 8-1 with a 2.03 ERA in his last 11 starts.
“Just in complete control. Just a dominant performance,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
It was the first complete game for Los Angeles since Walker Buehler pitched a three-hitter in a 4-0 victory at Arizona on April 25, 2022.
“Just tried to focus on just getting guys out and not even worrying about going deep in the game,” Stone said.
Playing in front of its first sellout of the year on Mexican Heritage Night, Chicago was shut out for the 12th time this season. It went 1 for 21 with runners in scoring position while totaling three runs and 17 hits in the three-game series.
The White Sox have dropped seven of eight overall to fall a whopping 40 games under .500 at 21-61.
Fedde (5-3) allowed four runs and five hits in six innings. He dropped to 4-1 with a 1.64 ERA in seven home starts this season.
Chicago finished the game without right fielder Gavin Sheets, who jammed his left heel and departed before the Dodgers batted in the sixth. X-rays were negative, and the team said Sheets is day to day.
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol was ejected by home plate umpire Derek Thomas in the sixth.
“I wasn’t particularly too happy with balls and strikes, especially early on our side with Fedde,” Grifol said.
The Dodgers grabbed control with three runs in the third. Teoscar Hernández hit a sacrifice fly, and Ohtani walked and scored from first on Freddie Freeman's two-run double.
“For the most part, I did good after the third inning,” Fedde said. “The one pitch I want back is the one to Freeman, the double.”
TRAINER'S ROOM
White Sox: RHP Mike Clevinger has been returned from his minor league rehab assignment because of neck stiffness. He was placed on the 15-day injured list last month with right elbow inflammation. A team spokesman said Clevinger will look to restart his rehab assignment next week. When Clevinger is healthy again, Grifol said the team could go to a six-man rotation to help provide more rest for some of its young starting pitchers. “We have to be careful with our guys,” Grifol said.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: Following an off day, RHP Landon Knack (1-1, 2.10 ERA) starts Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at San Francisco.
White Sox: It looks as if Chicago will go with a bullpen day when it hosts Atlanta on Thursday for a makeup of an April 3 rainout. LHP Chris Sale (10-2, 2.91 ERA) starts for the Braves against his first major league team.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Members of the Mariachi Monumental de México and Ballet Folklorico de Chicago perform before the baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
Chicago White Sox pitcher Erick Fedde delivers during the second inning of the team's baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Gavin Stone delivers during the first inning of the team's baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani scores against the Chicago White Sox during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
RIMINI, Italy (AP) — Two-time podium finisher Romain Bardet won the opening stage of the Tour de France and claimed the yellow jersey on Saturday as cycling’s biggest race began in Italy for the first time.
Combined with severe heat, one of the most challenging opening legs in recent memory created problems for Mark Cavendish and many other riders.
Tadej Pogacar, who is aiming to follow up his Giro d’Italia title with a third Tour trophy, and two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard both finished safely in the main pack, though.
Vingegaard's performance was especially encouraging, considering he was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a high-speed crash in the Tour of the Basque Country. He sustained a broken collarbone and ribs and a collapsed lung and had not raced since.
Bardet, the Frenchman who finished second in 2016 and third in 2017 and is racing his last Tour, attacked with slightly more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) to go. He caught up with his DSM-Firmenich PostNL teammate Frank van den Broek, who was in an early breakaway, and the pair just barely held off the onrushing peloton in the flat finish.
Bardet surged ahead of his teammate at the line and pointed to him to say, "Thank you."
It was Bardet's fourth career stage win in the Tour, and first since 2017.
The 206-kilometer (128-mile) route from Florence to the Adriatic coastal resort of Rimini featured seven categorized climbs and more than 3,600 meters (11,800 feet) of ascending. The temperature soared to 36 degrees (97 F).
Cavendish vomited twice and dropped far behind on the very first climb, putting at risk his pursuit of breaking a tie with Eddy Merckx for the most career stage wins in the Tour. Cavendish and Merckx have 34 each.
World champion Mathieu Van der Poel was dropped midway through the stage when Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates squad started accelerating at the front of the peloton up the fourth climb of the day.
The opening four stages are in Italy, marking the first time in the 121-year history of the Tour that the race has begun in France’s southern neighbor.
Bardet and Van den Broek finished with the same time of slightly more than five hours.
Wout van Aert won a sprint for third, crossing five seconds behind, and Pogacar crossed fourth with the same time.
In the overall standings, Bardet leads Van den Broek by four seconds with Van Aert 11 seconds back in third. Pogacar stands fourth, 15 seconds back — the same gap as Vingegaard.
There was an early mishap for Czech rider Jan Hirt, who broke three teeth when he collided with a spectator’s backpack in the neutral zone before the actual start of the stage. A key support rider for Remco Evenepoel at Soudal-Quick Step, Hirt still managed to complete the stage.
Stage 2 on Sunday is also hilly, following a 199-kilometer (124-mile) route from Cesenatico to Bologna. The stage is dedicated to 1998 Tour champion Marco Pantani, who was from Cesenatico, and will pass by a museum dedicated to the Italian rider, who died in 2004.
Because of a clash with the Olympics, the Tour will finish in Nice on July 21, five days before the Paris Games open.
AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
France's Romain Bardet, right, crosses the finish line with teammate Netherlands' Frank van den Broek, left, to win the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
France's Romain Bardet crosses the finish line to win the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
France's Romain Bardet, right, crosses the finish line with teammate Netherlands' Frank van den Broek, left, to win the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
The pack speeds down Col de Valico Tre Faggi during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A man takes a selfie with Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel as he and his teammate Belgium's Jasper Philipsen, left, wait for the start of the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar checks his communication equipment prior to the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Monaco's Prince Albert, center, Sara Funaro, mayor of Florence, center left, and Tour director Christian Prudhomme, right, pose during the official opening ceremony during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
The pack rides during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
The pack rides during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Four Astana Qazaqstan Team riders set the pace for Britain's Mark Cavendish, rear, who got distanced from the pack during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
France's Romain Bardet, front, and teammate Netherlands' Frank van den Broek ride breakaway during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
France's Romain Bardet, front, and teammate Netherlands' Frank van den Broek ride breakaway during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
