Through his first four 2016 Cactus League games as Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts has used a variety of lineups based on pitching matchups and getting players their requisite at-bats as they ramp up for the regular season.
On Sunday, the Dodgers’ outfield consisted of Carl Crawford in left field, Joc Pederson in center and Yasiel Puig playing right. For Crawford and Pederson, it was their second game of the spring, while Puig made a second consecutive start and played in a third game overall.
The trio of outfielders batted first, second and third on Sunday, and got off to a rough start at the plate as Jeff Samardzija struck out the side in the first inning.
Crawford then dropped a relatively routine fly ball in the bottom of the first, which left runners on first and second with no outs and Zach Lee in an early jam.
Lee managed to work his way out of trouble and the game remained tied through two innings. Following consecutive base hits by Micah Johnson and Cody Bellinger in the third, Crawford hit an RBI single to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead:
Then with the game tied at 1-1 in the fifth inning, Bellinger came around to score on Crawford’s RBI triple to left-center field:
Crawford finished the day 2-for-3 with two RBIs, one run scored and one strikeout prior to getting replaced by Trayce Thompson in the bottom of the fifth. The Dodgers defeated the Giants at Scottsdale Stadium, 5-2, to remain undefeated and improve to 3-0-1 this spring.
