The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered a third consecutive loss as they fell 11-5 to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields in their final road game of Cactus League play.
Back in the Dodgers lineup for the first time since playing with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, Will Smith immediately made his presence felt with a double. That put two on for Jason Heyward, who gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead on his RBI groundout.
Chris Taylor’s single drove in a run, and freshly named to the Dodgers Opening Day roster, James Outman hit an RBI double in his first at-bat. The Dodgers’ early lead did not hold in what quickly turned into a long afternoon for their pitching staff.
The Diamondbacks jumped on Michael Grove, as he allowed two runs on two hits and two walks while recording just one out before being temporarily removed from the game because of throwing 23 pitches in the first inning.
Turning to Minor Leaguer Julian Smith didn’t stop the Diamondbacks’ momentum. Gabriel Moreno greeted the southpaw with a game-tying RBI single, and that was followed by Nick Ahmed and Dominic Cazone hitting back-to-back home runs.
Evan Longoria extended the Diamondbacks’ lead with a two-run single and Kyle Lewis hit their third home run off Smith. Marshall Kasowski was needed to record the third out. The Diamondbacks sent 14 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs in the first inning.
To Grove’s credit, he re-entered the game and needed just 45 pitches to get through four scoreless innings while allowing only a single. The final line on Grove was four runs allowed over 4.1 innings pitched.
The Dodgers never mounted any sort of comeback, with their only scoring after the first inning coming on Freddie Freeman’s RBI groundout in the fifth and Steven Duggar’s base hit in the seventh.
Dodgers Opening Day rotation
With their group of position players set, one of the few remaining questions for the Dodgers Opening Day roster is with the starting rotation.
Manager Dave Roberts has indicated the decision is down to Grove and Michael Pepiot, which he called a close competition.
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