Once-dominant Dodgers bullpen unravels again in

CHICAGO — Dodgers left-hander Jack Dreyer rubbed a new baseball between his palms as he walked back to the mound, a sold-out Rate Field coming alive around him.

Fireworks crackled over the center-field scoreboard. Digital pinwheels spun. Dreyer had just surrendered his second home run of the inning, reworking a low-scoring battle into a lopsided White Sox benefit.

The Dodgers’ latest bullpen issues persevered in a 6-4 loss Sunday, overshadowing a bounce-back effort from Emmet Sheehan. The Dodgers tried to come back in the ninth, but fell short.

“We’ve gotten bit by the long ball, obviously in Pittsburgh, and here tonight,” said bench coach Danny Lehmann, filling in Sunday for supervisor Dave Roberts while he attended his daughter’s faculty commencement. “But overall, it’s more the strike throwing and just getting ahead of guys and doing what they’re supposed to do.”

The Dodgers dropped the collection 2-1, marking their first collection loss since May 8-10 against the Braves.

Sheehan was charged with three runs in five-plus innings, a large turnaround coming off the second-shortest start of his profession, only rivaled by a deliberate one-inning outing at the end of last season.

Against the Angels last week, Sheehan threw 49 pitches and recorded just 4 outs before being pulled.

On Sunday, he didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning.

“He got strike one and then understood when to leave the zone when he needed to,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “He did a great job of that. I think a couple of those guys picked up on tendencies, jumped on a pitch. I felt they were good pitches. I thought he did his job today and gave us a chance to win.”

Sheehan’s velocity has been an indicator of how synced up his supply has been on any given start this season.

On Sunday, his 95.1-mph average fastball velocity was 0.7 mph above his season average, according to Statcast — a promising signal. Results adopted.

Sheehan retired 11 of the first 12 batters he confronted, just a hit batter away from perfection. With two outs in the fourth, he gave up a double to Colson Montgomery, on a low line drive up the first-base line, just out of attain of Freddie Freeman as he made a diving attempt.

Then against Braden Montgomery, Sheehan labored back from a 2-1 rely for an inning-ending strikeout.

Out of Sheehan’s hand, the pitch regarded prefer it was going to cross the plate on the inside nook, about belt high. But as Montgomery began his swing, the firm changeup veered away from his bat at a sharp downward angle.

Montgomery swung over the pitch. A fired-up Sheehan buried his fist in his glove and shouted. With that strikeout, he preserved the Dodgers’ one-run lead.

Freeman supplied that run with a solo homer in the first inning. And Sheehan gave the Dodgers a lot of time to prolong that lead. In the sixth inning, however, the White Sox finally obtained to him.

“I definitely felt better early,” Sheehan said. “And then more of the same towards the end. Just pretty frustrating.”

Sheehan’s fastball to Sam Antonacci wasn’t in a unhealthy spot. But in an 0-2 rely, he might have put it a little larger or additional inside. Antonacci drove it over the right-field fence.

A single, a stolen base and an RBI double later, Sheehan walked off the mound, the Dodgers trailing 2-1.

Just a few weeks in the past, turning the ball over to the Dodgers’ bullpen was a promising transfer. They have been still driving a franchise-record streak of 38 consecutive scoreless innings.

Lately, however, it’s been a rocky trip. The bullpen entered Sunday with a 6.71 ERA since ending that scoreless streak on May 25. Only the Giants and Rockies produced a worse mark over that stretch.

None of the Dodgers’ relievers have been dominant in latest video games. Tanner Scott has been credited with three saves but also two losses. Kyle Hurt’s ERA has risen from 0.60 to 4.22. Dreyer, who went 10 straight video games without giving up a run before touchdown on the injured checklist with left shoulder discomfort, has surrendered 5 home runs in seven appearances since returning on May 31.

Dreyer gave up three runs and three hits. Then Blake Treinen and Jonathan Hernández held the White Sox the remaining of the best way.

The Dodgers tacked on three more runs, on a sacrifice fly and an RBI double from Alex Freeland, and a solo homer from Mookie Betts. They stranded runners at the corners in the ninth.