FREDDIE FREEMAN hit his 10th home run of the season on Tuesday as the Dodgers beat the Nationals 9-3. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

By David Arthur/Orange County Tribune

Combining home runs with sharp pitching, the Los Angeles Dodgers thumped the Washington Nationals 9-3 at home on Tuesday night.

Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman and J.D. Martinez each went deep for the Blue Crew and Tony Gonsolin (3-1) worked six strong innings, giving up just three hits and one earned run. He struck out two batters and walked two.

With the victory, the Dodgers improved to 33-22, 1.5 games ahead of the surging Arizona Diamondbacks in the race for first in the National League West Division race.

The game was still relatively close with LA leading 4-3 after six and one-half innings. But then the Dodgers scored two in the bottom of the seventh and three in the bottom of the eighth to push the game out of reach.

The third game of the series will be on Wednesday with Noah Syndergaard (1-4) starting for the Dodgers.

Angels fall to the White Sox, 7-3

By Pete Zarustica/Orange County Tribune

The long ball strategy didn’t last long enough as the Los Angeles Angels lost their fourth game in five tries in falling 7-3 to the Chicago White Sox in the Windy City on Tuesday night.

Taylor Ward hit a leadoff home run and Shohei Ohtani went deep on a solo shot in the fourth inning but that was almost all of the Halo offense as their record slumped to 29-27, still in third place in the American League West.

Leading 3-1 in the fourth, the Angels fell behind when the Chisox shelled Taylor Anderson (2-1) with five runs. He left the game having given up six runs on six hits. He struck out three batters and walked two as his ERA rose to 5.47.

Ward ended up with the best Angel day, going 2-for-4 with one run scored. In addition to his homer, he doubled, improving his average to .226.

Ohtani’s home run was his 13th of the season.

The Angels will try again on Wednesday when they send Jaime Barria (1-2) to the mound.