The White Sox (28-57) offense must have missed the flight to Los Angeles, because they only mustered three hits in their 6-1 loss to the Dodgers (54-32). Righthander Shane Smith struggled through another tough outing, his third in a row in which he gave up at least five earned runs (six tonight), and captured his sixth loss of the season. While previously thought of as a shoo-in as the South Side All-Star selection, Smith has been on a bit of a downward trajectory over the past month, and he still is unable to limit walks, especially in key situations.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto came out of the gates hot, and the Good Guys went down in order in the first inning. This ended up being a recurring theme of his outing, as Yamamoto shut down the White Sox for seven innings, striking out eight and allowing just one run on three hits.

Smith had to deal with the Dodgers’ big three, consisting of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith, and it started out alright until he got to Will. Walks have been haunting Shane over the last month or so, and they continued to do so on Tuesday. He walked Will and Max Muncy in consecutive at-bats with two outs, and LA capitalized on Shane’s mistakes by driving in four runs off of two singles and a double to the left field corner.

It ultimately took Smith 32 pitches to get through the first inning — 18 for strikes — and most of the damage was self-inflicted.

The South Siders obtained their first base runners in the second inning after Kyle Teel drew a walk and Lenyn Sosa ripped a base hit through the five-six hole to put two runners on with one out. They couldn’t get it done, however, as Josh Rojas flew out in foul territory and Brooks Baldwin completely pulled his head out and struck out on a weak swing.

Since the Dodgers batted almost all the way through the lineup in the first inning, Smith was forced to face the top of the order again in the second after getting the first out. He had settled in a bit and only needed 13 pitches this time around, and made it through unscathed by striking out Ohtani and Freeman to end the inning.

The second-inning success was a bit short-lived for Shane, as another run scored in the third after Will Smith led off the inning with a base hit. Will was able to get into scoring position on a wild pitch from Shane (so many Smiths, are you keeping up?). Just a few at-bats later, Andy Pages mashed his second RBI hit of the evening to score the fifth run of the game for Los Angeles.

Andrew Benintendi led off the fourth inning for the Good Guys by poking a base hit to center, looking to start a rally as they were chasing five. Teel moved him over on a groundout, and Sosa smacked his second hit of the day for a double off the left-field wall. That was unfortunately the only run they were able to score that inning, now just chasing four, 5-1, LA.

Smith came back with a vengeance in the fourth, and struck out Tommy Edman and Hyeseong Kim to quickly snag two outs. It was only a matter of time for the reigning MVP to flash his power, however, and Ohtani took that Sosa RBI right back as he blasted a solo bomb to right center to extend the Dodgers’ lead back to five, 6-1. This was Ohtani’s 30th home run of the season, and Smith’s sixth given up.

Smith ultimately lasted for 4 2⁄3 innings and gave up six earned runs on six hits. He struggled with walks again, with three on the day, but was able to strike out six to combat those. He threw 62 of his 97 pitches for strikes, but he was pulled out in the bottom of the fifth with two outs as Will Venable was not keen on having him face Pages a third time. The All-Star break is just around the corner, and it might be very timely for Smith to get a bit of rest and lock back in for the second half. His ERA is now up to 3.86, still solid but consistently climbing. A slump is a slump, though, so it’s not worth giving up on him yet.

The White Sox offense was flat after the Sosa RBI double, and they went down in order for both the sixth and seventh innings. The most action we saw was a 10-pitch at-bat from Miguel Vargas, which sadly ended in a fly out. However, Brooks Baldwin finally showed some life and was able to work a walk to get on base and lead off the eighth. That momentum died as quickly as it started as Michael A. Taylor, Mike Tauchman, and Chase Meidroth all crumbled and left Baldwin stranded.

On the other hand, the South Side bullpen was overall excellent in relief of Smith, as Tyler Alexander and Steven Wilson flawlessly worked through the remaining 3 1⁄3 innings. Alexander tossed 2 1⁄3 without giving up a hit and struck out three along the way. He entered with two outs in the fifth and forced Pages to fly out to end the inning, finally getting him out after all the damage he caused tonight (2-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI).

Steven Wilson had the eighth for the Sox, and although he gave up a hit to Teoscar Hernández for his second of the day, he was able to shut down the Dodgers the rest of the way. Wilson and Alexander held LA at bay, but the bats were never able to ignite and get a rally going.

The story was the same for the ninth, and the offense simply rolled over and waved the white flag. The Sox ended up with just three measly hits, and you are most definitely not going to beat most teams with just three knocks. Dodgers closer Anthony Banda worked through the last three outs with ease and caught Teel looking to end the game. That would be the third of the inning as Banda struck out the side to take the first of the series.

It was a pretty ugly game for the White Sox, so hopefully some solid rest (after a rest day, at that) will do the trick and they can show up ready to play tomorrow.