Storied rivals Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants meet at Scottsdale Stadium for the second and final time of Spring Training. The Giants beat the Dodgers, 9-4, at Camelback Ranch on Feb. 24.
Come the regular season, the teams will have 10 head-to-head meetings within the first month. Sunday’s game is a matchup between Kenta Maeda and Jeff Samardzija. The start is Maeda’s second this year, but first since falling ill because of a virus that swept through the Dodgers clubhouse.
Maeda completed two hitless innings against the Texas Rangers in his spring debut. Now back in the starting rotation, Maeda is focused on replicating the success and mindset he had as a reliever during the 2017 postseason.
Yaisel Sierra is among the relievers scheduled to appear after Maeda. Dodgers pitchers will face a Giants lineup that includes offseason newcomers Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria.
On the other side of things, Samardzija is entering the third year of a five-year, $90 million contract signed with the Giants. He’s yet to meet expectations and is coming off a season in which he went 9-15 with a 4.42 ERA.
Samardzija allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits and issued one walk in 1.1 innings of work against the Arizona Diamondbacks in his 2018 debut.
Dodgers have expected regulars Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger, Yasiel Puig and Logan Forsythe in their lineup. Austin Barnes is again serving as the designated hitter, but could see his first start behind the plate this week.
Dodgers lineup:
CF: Chris Taylor
2B: Chase Utley
1B: Cody Bellinger
RF: Yasiel Puig
C: Yasmani Grandal
LF: Joc Pederson
3B: Logan Forsythe
DH: Austin Barnes
SS: Kiké Hernandez
Giants lineup:
2B: Joe Panik
1B: Brandon Belt
RF: Andrew McCutchen
DH: Evan Longoria
3B: Pablo Sandoval
LF: Jarrett Parker
C: Nick Hundley
CF: Steven Duggar
SS: Kelby Tomlinson
