The annual Freeway Series went in favor of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who took two of three games from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Anaheim held on for a win Monday night, then were overpowered, as many teams have been, by Clayton Kershaw the following night.
The Angels then came away with two home wins, though Thursday’s game didn’t go as smoothly as their previous victory. Chase Utley opened the game with a drag bunt toward second base to beat the Angels shift that had Johnny Giavotella playing in shallow right field.
Utley moved into scoring position on a Jhoulys Chacin wild pitch and later scored on Chacin’s second wild pitch of the inning. The Dodgers’ lead didn’t hold long as Mike Trout’s RBI single in the bottom of the first tied the game.
With the score still knotted at 1-1 in the third inning, Chacin found himself in a small jam as base hits from Utley and Corey Seager left runners on the corners with two outs for cleanup hitter Howie Kendrick.
Kendrick fell behind 0-2 in the count, but lined a two-run triple that got by a diving Kole Calhoun:
The extra-base hit was just the second of the season for Kendrick, who is batting .222/.261/.250 with seven RBIs entering play on Friday. Kendrick started each game of the Freeway Series, with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stating he made a concerted effort to give Kendrick every opportunity to succeed against his former club.
That was made easier given Adrian Gonzalez missed the past four games due to lower back tightness. After a subpar start to the season since being reinstated from the disabled list, Kendrick is hitting .291/.333/.345 during the month of May.
He went 4-for-14 in the four games against the Angels with three RBIs, two walks and one strikeout.
