Just as was the case in their first Spring Training meeting on Wednesday, there was plenty of early offense supplied by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Friday at Camelback Ranch.
Anaheim jumped on Zach Lee in the first inning, with a fielder’s choice and two-out base hit leading to a three-run Geovany Soto home run. The Dodgers didn’t take long to respond, as Joc Pederson led off the bottom of the first inning with a single.
Pederson then went first to third base on Corey Seager’s base hit to right field. Nick Tropeano managed to limit the damage by holding the Dodgers to one run in the inning, scored on a Yasiel Puig double play ball.
After Lee tossed a scoreless second inning, Los Angeles cut again cut into their deficit, this time behind a booming solo home run hit by Austin Barnes on a full count:
The home run was Barnes’ second in Spring Training his year and fourth RBI. He’s batting .375/.500/.750 (6-for-16) with four walks in nine games. With the score tied in the third inning, Angels manager Mike Scioscia called on left-hander Jose Alvarez to face Adrian Gonzalez.
The Dodgers first baseman got the better of the matchup, driving a fastball over the left-center field fence for a go-ahead solo home run:
On the defensive side of the things, Charlie Culberson impressed after replacing Cory Seager, who was removed early due to left knee soreness. Culberson’s first play came in the fourth inning as he made a sliding stop and throw from deep in the hole for the second out:
Then in the sixth, Culberson made an all-out diving stop on a grounder up the middle, then spun and threw to first base in time to nab Ortega:
The Angels scored three runs in the eighth inning and tacked on two more in the ninth to beat the Dodgers, 8-4.
