Still in the first few days of the 2016 Cactus League schedule, it’s not uncommon for a handful of players to make their respective debut in any given game. Such has been the case for the Los Angeles Dodgers and most notably, Scott Kazmir and Kenta Maeda.
Kazmir made his Dodgers debut and threw two innings against the Texas Rangers on Friday at Surprise Stadium. He allowed two runs on six hits, but also was able to work himself out of trouble by getting timely double plays.
He was followed in the Dodgers’ now-questionable rotation by Maeda, who got to face the Arizona Diamondbacks at Camelback Ranch.
The Japanese right-hander lived up to expectations as he tossed two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and collecting two strikeouts.
Maeda recorded his first strikeout against Jake Lamb by fooling the Diamondbacks third baseman with late movement:
Joining Maeda in making his Dodgers debut on Saturday was young right-hander Jose De Leon. He also fooled Lamb to notch his first strikeout of Spring Training:
De Leon proceded to strikeout the side in the sixth inning after allowing a leadoff double to Nick Ahmed. De Leon finished the day with four strikeouts over two scoreless innings of relief. The Dodgers went on to beat the Diamondbacks, 7-2, aided by two home runs from Rob Segedin.
