The Los Angeles Dodgers began their 2016 Cactus League schedule with a home date against the Chicago White Sox, whom they share the Camelback Ranch Spring Training facility with.
First-year Dodgers manager Dave Roberts handed the ball to ace Clayton Kershaw, while the White Sox sent fellow left-hander John Danks to the mound.
Kershaw was expected to throw two innings — or the equivalent of it if his pitch count began to get too high. He was backed by a lineup that featured plenty of expected regular starters in Andre Ethier, Howie Kendrick and Yasiel Puig, among others.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner issued a one-out walk in the first inning, however followed it by getting a fastball by White Sox slugger Jose Abreu, and retiring Todd Frazier.
Kershaw got through two scoreless innings with two strikeouts on 30 pitches:
The Dodgers spotted Kershaw with an early lead by capitalizing on Kendrick’s leadoff walk in the bottom of the first inning.Ethier followed with a base hit to put two on with no outs for Yasiel Puig.
The 25 year old lined a pitch into right-center field for an RBI single, scoring one of two runs the Dodgers pushed across in the inning:
Puig struck out looking in the third inning, then was replaced in right field by Alex Hassan. The Dodgers went on to win their Cactus League opener, 6-1.
