White Sox Struggle in Cactus League Opener as Dodgers Win 6-1

The Chicago White Sox opened their Cactus League schedule on Wednesday afternoon against the Los Angeles Dodgers at their shared spring training stadium, Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.

John Danks got the start for the White Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers went with their ace Clayton Kershaw to toe up the rubber this afternoon.

Kershaw’s first start of the spring was business as usual, as he threw two innings of scoreless work. Kershaw allowed a base hit to new White Sox catcher Dioner Navarro in the top of the second inning, he struck out two hitters and allowed one walk to Brett Lawrie in the first inning.

Danks on the other hand, had a rough afternoon in Glendale as he got tagged for three runs on four hits in just two innings pitched. Yasiel Puig, and Yasmani Grandal both had RBI singles in the bottom of the first inning for the Dodgers, and third-basemen Alex Guerrero smacked a long home run to left field in the bottom of the second inning to put the Dodgers up 3-0 after two innings.

Joe Blanton relieved Kershaw in the top of the third, and retired all six White Sox hitters that came to the plate, three of them via the strike out. Matt Albers tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the third inning for the White Sox in a brief appearance on the afternoon.

Zach Duke, and Jake Petricka each tossed a scoreless inning respectively in the fourth, and fifth inning.

The White Sox got on the board in the top of the sixth inning when Todd Frazier drove in Brett Lawrie on a sacrifice fly. Jerry Sands followed Frazier by doubling off of the center field wall, but was stranded at second when Avisail Garcia failed to reach base for the third time on the afternoon.

The Dodgers answered the White Sox in the bottom half of the sixth when they roughed up reliever Zach Putnam for two runs on four hits including a couple deep fly balls. Scott Van Slyke scored on ball in the left-center field gap hit by catcher Austin Barnes, who was thrown out at second base by left-fielder Jerry Sands. Sands also made a leaping catch into the left field wall to save extra bases two hitters later. The Dodgers extended the lead to 5-1 heading into the seventh inning.

Dan Jennings of the White Sox issued a two out walk to Corey Brown, who scored on a deep double to right-center field by Rob Segedin in the bottom of the seventh inning, increasing the Dodgers lead to 6-1 after seven innings.

Daniel Webb worked through a base hit, and a hit by pitch eventually striking out former White Sox second-basemen Micah Johnson to end the inning and keep the score at 6-1 Los Angeles after eight innings.

The White Sox went down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth inning, and fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Cactus League opener.

Jerry Sands impressed this afternoon coming off of the bench with a deep double, an outfield assist throwing out Austin Barnes at second, and taking away extra bases with a leaping catch as he crashed into the fence in the bottom of the sixth inning.

John Danks struggled out of the gates, putting the White Sox in an early hole on a day that the offense could not string much together. The White Sox left five runners on base in the game, and the lone RBI came on a sac-fly off of the bat of Todd Frazier in the top of the sixth.

The White Sox return to action tomorrow as they take on the Cleveland Indians at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona at 2:05 pm (CT).