One night after Scott Kazmir made his first start at Dodger Stadium with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Japanese native Kenta Maeda did the same against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Saturday’s contest was the last at Chavez Ravine until the Dodgers host the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 12 in their home opener of the 2016 season. The new setting didn’t affect Maeda as he retired the Angels in order in the first inning.
Hector Santiago gave up a base hit to Yasiel Puig in a nine-pitch at-bat, however Justin Turner followed by grounding into an inning-ending double play. Maeda again set the Angels down in order, collecting his first strikeout of the game in the process.
After hitting a leadoff single in the bottom of the second, Adrian Gonzalez was erased from the bases on a force out. With two outs and Joc Pederson batting, Carl Crawford was caught stealing to end the inning.
Geovany Soto and Rafael Ortega combined for back-to-back singles in the third to put runners on first and second base with none out. Maeda got his second strikeout, but then gave up an RBI single to Yunel Escobar.
Ji-Man Choi’s RBI groundout extended the Angels’ lead to 2-0 before Maeda worked his way out of the inning. Santiago powered his way through the bottom of the third by striking out the side consisting of Pederson, Corey Seager and Maeda.
Maeda retired Kole Calhoun, C.J. Cron and Andrelton Simmons in order in the fourth, which as expected, was his final inning of work. The Dodgers didn’t muster any offense against the Santiago in the bottom of the fourth.
CONTINUE READING: Dodgers find some life in eighth inning
Joe Blanton entered in the fifth and worked around a two-out Johnny Giavotella base hit to toss a scoreless inning of relief. Crawford beat the Angels’ shift by slapping a double down the third base line.
Crawford was stranded by A.J. Ellis and Pederson, who flied out to the fence in center field. J.P. Howell retired the first two batters faced, then was removed after hitting Calhoun with a pitch.
Yimi Garcia and Scott Van Slyke entered as part of a double switch, replacing Howell and Pederson. Garcia struck out Cron to keep the Angels’ lead at 2-0. Mike Morin took over the Angels in the bottom of the sixth and set the Dodgers down in order.
Simmonds led off the seventh with a base hit, and he moved into scoring position on Soto’s grounder to first base. Giavotella followed an Ortega walk with an RBI single to right field. Chris Hatcher replaced Garcia and allowed two more runs to come across before recording the third out.
Aside from walking Gonzalez with two outs, Angels reliever Joe Smith kept the Dodgers off the bases to preserve a 5-0 lead. Luis Avilan erased a leadoff base hit by inducing Cron into a 6-4-3 double play. Avilan worked around a two-out walk to pinch-hitter Cliff Pennington and a Charlie Culberson throwing error to get out of the inning unscathed.
Ellis, Trayce Thompson and Seager combined to hit a trio of singles with no outs off Huston Street in the bottom of the eighth. Seager’s scored Ellis to cut the Angels’ lead to 5-1. Culberson drew a two-out walk to load the bases, which led to a pitching change.
Facing Cam Bedrosian, Rob Segedin put a charge into one, but it was caught at the warning track in left field to end the inning. Johan Mieses led off the bottom of the ninth with a double, but the Dodgers never truly threatened to come back and lost to the Angels, 5-1.