Shohei Ohtani passes the White Sox in the Dodgers’ win and ties the club’s RBI record

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani didn’t waste a minute and opened his team’s 4-3 win over the White Sox on Tuesday with a home run into the visitors’ bullpen at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Fans who came to see the Dodgers’ star, who leads the National League with 24 home runs, got what they wanted to see and probably expected: another loss for the Sox, leaving them at 21-60 at the halfway point of the season.

Ohtani’s 376-foot throw to right-hander Chris Flexen narrowly missed the glove of right fielder Tommy Pham at the top of the fence. He has recorded at least one RBI in nine consecutive games, tying a franchise record last set by Roy Campanella in 1955.

The Sox scored three runs in the first inning against right-hander Bobby Miller, two of them on Andrew Benintendi’s sixth home run of the season.

Freddie Freeman’s two-run third inning and Ohtani’s RBI single to take the lead with two outs in the fourth inning were all the Dodgers (50-31) needed, as the Sox remained 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

“It was tough,” Benintendi said of the Sox’s first half. “It may look a lot worse than it actually is. We’ve played a lot of games with only one point difference. We’ve had a good week or two. But we still have 81 games to go, so just keep going, keep working on things, keep getting better.”

Flexen (5.13 ERA) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, had three strikeouts and three walks and threw 106 pitches.

“Flexen worked his ass off,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “Just couldn’t capitalize on it with runners in scoring position and men on base.”

Workload when crocheting

Left-hander Garrett Crochet is adjusting to a period of reduced workload, but his start on Monday was abruptly cut short at 91 pitches while pitching a shutout in the sixth inning.

A relaxation of crocheting has been foreseeable for some time.

“There is a plan,” said manager Pedro Grifol. “I’m not going to put that plan out there for everyone to see, because nothing is black and white in this game. Everything is always gray, and you can always adjust everything. It all depends on the stress he’s under in each inning.”

Crochet has 17 starts and 94⅓ innings after throwing 12⅓ innings in relief last season and missing all of 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Crochet has a 3.05 ERA, leads the majors with 12.59 strikeouts per nine innings and is second with 124 strikeouts.

Advice for Robert Jr.: Don’t chase

Luis Robert Jr. was hesitant to make big forays from first base early in his career because he was afraid of getting caught. He also hates getting called out on strikes, so he sometimes chases pitches outside the two-strike zone, though his overall chase rate has dropped recently.

“We have to remind him to still swing when he has good throws,” Grifol said.

Robert, who has hit 12 of 63 at-bats with five home runs in the last 18 games since being released from the injured list, is expected to be a devastating hitter with better control of the zone.

Robert hit a single and scored on a three-run double by Eloy Jimenez in the Sox’s first game.

Sale on Wednesday

Wednesday’s series finale is a sellout. The series has drawn many Dodgers and Ohtani fans, and Wednesday is Mexican Heritage Night with a jersey raffle. Monday’s game drew 25,070 fans, and Tuesday’s attendance was 23,662 paying spectators.

In 38 home games, the Sox averaged 16,892 spectators, ranking 26th out of 30 teams. Last season, they averaged 21,405 spectators, ranking 24th.

Sale meets Sox

The Braves switched their starting pitcher for Thursday’s 3:10 p.m. make-up game at Guaranteed Rate Field from right-hander Charlie Morton to former Sox left-hander Chris Sale. Rookie right-hander Drew Thorpe will start for the Sox.