Returning to a Major League stadium suited Rich Hill well, Justin Turner hit his fourth home run of the spring, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 3-1. The victory was the Dodgers’ first in Anaheim during Spring Training since 2003. Los Angeles entered 0-14-2 during that span.
After Andrew Toles reached on an error, Garrett Richards ended a scoreless first inning by inducing Turner into a double play. Kole Calhoun reached with one out in the bottom of the first on an infield single that skipped off Hill’s barehand.
Mike Trout grounded into a force out, later stole second base, but was stranded when Albert Pujols was called out on strikes. Danny Espinosa doubled and advanced to third base on Toles’ throwing error.
Cliff Pennington then walked, though both runners were stranded in the second inning when Logan Forsythe made a barehanded play on Martin Maldonado’s bunt single attempt. Richard walked Yasiel Puig to start the third, then retired the next three batters faced, ending the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
Turner pulled an inside slider over the fence in left field to break a scoreless tie in the fourth inning. Hill surrendered two base hits in the bottom of the fourth and was removed after catching Espinosa looking for the second out.
Luis Avilan retired Pennington to preserve the Dodgers’ 1-0 lead. Hill’s spring concluded with four hits allowed, one walk and two strikeouts over 3.2 scoreless innings. After Puig reached on an error and Hernandez walked in the fifth, Forsythe and Toles both grounded into force outs.
Kenley Jansen’s first time pitching in back-to-back games this spring resulted in a 1-2-3 inning, complete with a pair of strikeouts. Chris Hatcher went 1.1 scoreless innings and Grant Dayton finished out the seventh inning to keep the Angels off the scoreboard.
Erick Mejia and Franklin Gutierrez hit back-to-back doubles in the eighth, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0. Cody Bellinger later beat the shift by slapping an RBI double through the hole at shortstop and into left-center field.
Dodgers reliever Andrew Istler allowed a two-out double in the ninth, followed by an RBI single, before earning a save in the Dodgers’ victory.
