Home runs from Chris Taylor and Yasiel Puig in the seventh inning lifted the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-2 comeback win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the Freeway Series Opener. The game was their first in a Major League stadium this spring.
For Puig, the home run was his third in as many games and he became the first player to take advantage of the new, shorter fence in right field at Angel Stadium. Although the 18-foot wall is still in place, roughly a foot in front of the new out-of-town-scoreboard is an eight-foot wall with a yellow line painted across to serve as a boundary for home runs.
Puig was also responsible for driving in half of the Dodgers’ runs on the night. His first RBI came after former Dodgers reliever Jim Johnson issued a leadoff walk in the fifth and followed it by allowing back-to-back singles that loaded the bases.
Puig’s RBI groundout to third base cut the deficit in half, then a Cody Bellinger swinging bunt up the first-base line tied the game.
Kenta Maeda had five strikeouts over five innings in what was his final tuneup. He allowed solo home runs to Zack Cozart and Mike Trout, and four hits overall. Maeda finished the spring with a 0.81 WHIP in 17.1 innings pitched across five starts.
J.T. Chargois and Scott Alexander each tossed a scoreless inning, with Alexander bookending his appearance with strikeouts of Albert Pujols and Cozart. In what presumably was his first of back-to-back appearances, which would be a first this spring, Kenley Jansen worked around a two-out single and pair of wild pitches in the eighth.
Josh Fields retired the side in order in the ninth inning to earn his second save of the spring. The Dodgers improved to 3-0 against the Angels this year, with two more head-to-head meetings remaining in the Freeway Series.
