For a second consecutive night, the Los Angeles Dodgers broke out the bats against the Arizona Diamondbacks, mashing three home runs en route to a 12-1 win at Dodger Stadium.
The club now concludes its exhibition schedule with a Freeway Series matchup against the L.A. Angels. Though the teams historically meet for a three-game series before Opening Day, that isn’t the case this year.
However, the Dodgers and Angels will meet six times during the regular season, with separate three-game series taking place at Angel Stadium and Dodger Stadium.
Josiah Gray makes his final start of Summer Camp. He has gotten plenty of looks this month, finding success against his teammates in intrasquad games.
Gray also made two appearances in Spring Training before play was suspended due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. He is coming off a superb 2019 campaign that culminated with him being named the organization’s Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
The right-hander split time with Low-A Great Lakes, High-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Tulsa, going 11-2 with a 2.28 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 130 innings pitched (26 games, 25 starts). It was his first season in the organization after being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds the previous winter.
Gray faces tough odds to crack the Dodgers’ 30-man Opening Day roster, but could conceivably see time at the Major League level this year. He was included on the club’s initial player pool for the 2020 season and will be on hand if needed at some point.
The Angels counter with Felix Pena, who filled a swingman role last year. In 22 games (seven starts), he pitched to an 8-3 record, 4.58 ERA, 4.52 FIP and 1.18 WHIP with 101 strikeouts against 34 walks across 96.1 innings of work.
As expected, Austin Barnes returns to the Dodgers lineup, batting eighth. He exited Sunday’s game against the Diamondbacks after being hit by a pitch in his left hand/wrist area, but x-rays on his left hand came back negative.
Mookie Betts is not in the lineup, which has Max Muncy batting leadoff.
Dodgers lineup:
1B: Max Muncy
3B: Justin Turner
CF: Cody Bellinger
DH: AJ Pollock
SS: Corey Seager
LF: Chris Taylor
RF: Joc Pederson
2B: Kiké Hernandez
C: Will Smith
Angels lineup:
3B: David Fletcher
CF: Mike Trout
DH: Shohei Ohtani
LF: Justin Upton
2B: Tommy LaStella
1B: Albert Pujols
RF: Brian Goodwin
C: Max Stassi
SS: Andrelton Simmons
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