The Los Angeles Dodgers held three separate leads on the night but still fell 13-5 to the Los Angeles Angels for their second consecutive loss in the exhibition Freeway Series. With that, the Dodgers’ Spring Training schedule came to a close as they now enjoy a day off before Opening Night at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.
Much like Noah Syndergaard the night before, Ryan Pepiot’s final tuneup left some to be desired. Pepiot did well to limit his walks during Cactus League play but a two-out free pass given to Shohei Ohtani led to trouble in the first inning.
Anthony Rendon immediately made Pepiot pay for the walk by hitting a game-tying RBI double. Brandon Drury’s RBI double in the second inning again pulled the Angels even.
The Dodgers handed Pepiot another lead in the third inning, only for that to quickly get erased as well. Ohtani’s second walk of the game led to the Angels jumping in front on Hunter Renfroe’s two-run homer. Luis Rengifo made it back-to-back home runs, extending the Angels’ lead to 5-3.
Pepiot was chased at 86 pitches with two outs in the fourth inning.
Tayler Scott allowed three runs (two earned) in the fifth, which wound up being the difference for the Angels in their win. Though, they did add four more off Jake Pilarski in the seventh inning for good measure, and pushed across another run in the eighth.
Jimmy Nelson bounced back from throwing just one strike out of 14 pitches his last time out by retiring the side in order in the sixth inning. Nelson walked 11 of 21 batters faced and also hit one over five appearances during Cactus League games.
Dodgers regulars contribute
The Dodgers’ offense was carried by several of their everyday starters, beginning with Will Smith’s sacrifice fly in the first inning.
Mookie Betts drove a run in during the second inning, and Max Muncy added an RBI single in the third. Miguel Rojas’ two-run base hit in the fifth inning was the Dodgers’ final bit of scoring.
J.D. Martinez had a team-high three hits and Chris Taylor went 1-for-2 with a double and two walks as he continues to make progress toward locking in a consistent swing.
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