It was one of those games.

When Chicago White Sox leadoff hitter Tim Anderson launched Dodgers starter Alex Wood‘s very first pitch of the game halfway up the Left Field Pavilion, followed by a one out single to right by Sox first baseman Jose Abreu five pitches later, followed by another single to right by Sox catcher Kevan Smith seven pitches after that, comments such as “this game is weird” began floating around the Dodger Stadium press box. After all, Wood came into the game with an outstanding 14-1 record and 2.30 ERA that might actually garner him more Cy Young votes than teammate and perennial Cy Young candidate Clayton Kershaw. Fortunately, Wood escaped that first frame without further damage, in spite of leaving runners at the corners and having made 19 pitches.

Wood watches his very first pitch of Tuesday night’s game leave Dodger Stadium and land halfway up the Left Field Pavilion. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Weird indeed … and the weirdness continued.

White Sox right-hander Miguel González held the Dodgers scoreless for six innings, allowing only five hits and walking three while striking out four. It wasn’t that the Dodgers weren’t making contact against the 6′ 1″ /170-pound Guadalajara, Mexico native, who grew up in nearby San Fernando, California a mere 21 miles from Dodger Stadium, it was that they weren’t making enough hard contact, with several hard-hit fly balls being caught on the warning track instead of clearing the wall.

Finally, in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Dodgers managed to put together some offense and pushed across the tying run after back-to-back one out singles by Dodgers phenom rookie Cody Bellinger and catcher Yasmani Grandal, followed by a sacrifice fly by second baseman Logan Forsythe. But even then the Dodgers offense sputtered.

…until the eighth inning, when the weirdness got even weirder.

Although González was no longer pitching for the White Sox, his replacement, right-hander Juan Minaya, allowed only a one out walk in the seventh inning before striking out Chris Taylor and Corey Seager to end the inning. Unfortunately for Minaya – and for the AL Central last-place White Sox – the proverbial wheels come off the bus when the NL West first-place Dodgers showed yet again exactly why they are the undisputed best team in all of baseball this season.

As he has done so often and the reason why he leads the National League in hitting, Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner led off the eighth with a sharp single to left. It would be the only hit that Minaya would allow but it would be a huge one for the Dodgers. White Sox manager Rick Renteria opted to bring in left-hander Aaron Bummer which, as you might imagine, generated a flood of “bummer” puns on social media. The young lefty had the daunting task of facing the left-handed-hitting Bellinger, who grounded into a fielders choice with Turner being forced out at second base but avoiding a double play by half a step. That half step would prove to be devastating for the 23-year-old Santa Clarita, California native and former Nebraska Cornhusker.

Bellinger promptly stole second base off of Bummer, who then walked the switch-hitting Grandal (batting right-handed, his weaker side), and right fielder Yasiel Puig to load the bases. Forsythe then grounded to third and Puig was forced out at the plate, with Forsythe beating the throw to first base and avoiding what would have been an inning-ending 5-2-3 double play to again load the bases.

This is where it really gets weird.

Renteria brought in right-hander Jake Petricka to face left-handed hitting Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson, who entered the game mired in a horrible 1-for-32 slump. The Dodgers desperately needed a two-out hit from the struggling Pederson.

They got the hit they needed but it wasn’t from Pederson.

On a 1-1 count, Petricka hit Pederson on the right thigh to force in the go-ahead run. It was the run – and the spark – the Dodgers needed, as they put up four additional runs before the third out was finally recorded in the eventual lopsided 6-1 Dodgers win.

It took a slumping Joc Pederson getting hit on the right thigh in the eighth inning to finally ignite the Dodgers seemingly-nightly scoring avalanche. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

“It was kind of a weird night,” Wood said, after the game. “I probably didn’t have my best stuff. We made some pitches and it was kind of an interesting dynamic because they’ve been one of the most aggressive teams in all of baseball, so it was a lot more of my secondary stuff tonight. The fact that we were able to command that for the most part and made some pitches and they put the ball on the ground and in the air.

“Not a lot of soft contact … with that leadoff homer,” Wood added with a chuckle. “I felt good and I just gotta hold us in there until we kind of get that offensive explosion, so it was nice of those guys to have a big inning there at the end.”

Wood finished the night having allowed only the one run on six hits with six strikeouts and no walks in his 7.0 innings of work. And even though Wood was only at 79 pitches (58 strikes), Dodgers manager Dave Roberts opted to have 15-year MLB veteran Chase Utley pinch-hit for Wood with one out in the bottom of the seventh – a decision that appeared to be a wise one when Utley work out a seven-pitch walk after being down 0-2 in the count. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, González struck out Taylor and Seager to end the inning and give Wood a no-decision.

“[I was] thinking about keeping [Wood] in the game, but with a tie game at home, I felt that Chase gave us obviously a better opportunity to score a run right there and I trust our bullpen in the last two innings,” Roberts said. “They did a great job and Alex was very efficient, eight punches I think tonight. And even though I think in talking with Rick [Honeycutt], he didn’t have his best stuff, but just shows how good we can be.”

With the win the Dodgers are now 82-32, the first time that they have been 50 games over .500 since the Brooklyn Dodgers did so in 1953.

There’s certainly nothing weird about that.