The Los Angeles Dodgers head to Surprise Stadium on Friday for matchup with the Kansas City Royals in their penultimate Cactus League game. They do so by sending Clayton Kershaw to the hill for a final tuneup of the spring.
Kershaw is coming off a dominant performance in which he had eight strikeouts over five shutout innings against the San Diego Padres. The three-time Cy Young Award winner has yet to allow a run in his five Cactus League starts, good for a 14.2 scoreless innings streak.
Opponents are batting .208 off Kershaw, and he’s pitched to a 1.02 WHIP. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who believes his ace is tracking perfectly for Opening Day, expects Kershaw to go six innings or 90 pitches on Friday.
He’ll be backed by a Dodgers lineup that features plenty of expected regulars, including Matt Kemp who is batting fifth but could just as well hit third come the regular season.
Rick Nolasco, who spent a portion of the 2013 season with the Dodgers, is on the mound for Kansas City. He’s appeared in just one Cactus League game thus far, throwing a scoreless inning out of the bullpen earlier this week.
Nolasco signed a Minor League contract with the Royals on March 8, inking a deal that included a non-roster invitation to big league camp. The signing came one day after the Royals placed Jesse Hahn on the 60-day disabled list with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Kansas City has won two of the three previous Spring Training meetings this year.
Dodgers lineup:
CF: Chris Taylor
DH: Corey Seager
RF: Yasiel Puig
1B: Cody Bellinger
LF: Matt Kemp
C: Yasmani Grandal
3B: Logan Forsythe
2B: Chase Utley
SS: Kiké Hernandez
Royals lineup:
CF: Jon Jay
SS: Humberto Arteaga
RF: Paulo Orlando
C: Salvador Perez
1B: Lucas Duda
LF: Alex Gordon
3B: Emmanuel Rivera
2B: Ryan Goins
DH: Samir Dueñez
