The Los Angeles Dodgers head to Scottsdale to face the San Francisco Giants on Sunday, in the second of back-to-back games against a National League West opponent. The Dodgers cruised to a 7-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday at Camelback Ranch.
With Brett Anderson on the shelf for the next three to five months after undergoing arthroscopic back surgery, the auditions to replace him as the Dodgers’ fifth starter in a sense begin with Zach Lee.
The right-hander was one of 16 starting pitchers — the most in Major League Baseball — the Dodgers used last season. Lee allowed seven runs on 11 hits over 4.2 innings a bad-luck start against the New York Mets.
The Major-League debut was Lee’s lone outing with the Dodgers. In 19 starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City last season, he finished 11-6 with a 2.70 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.
Lee was named the Dodgers’ Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year for 2015. He appeared in three games last spring, including one start. He went 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and had seven strikeouts in 9.1 innings pitched. Overall, Lee is 2-1 with a 5.14 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in eight Spring Training games (three starts).
Chase De Jong, Adam Liberatore, Ross Stripling and Matt West are expected to pitch in relief for the Dodgers on Sunday. De Jong and Stripling have yet to appear in a game this spring.
Jeff Samardzija, the Giants’ $90 million offseason signing, takes the mound for a second start with his new club. Samardzija allowed one run on two hits and issued one walk over two innings of work against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in his Giants debut.
In four career regular-season outings (two starts) against the Dodgers, Samardzija is 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA and 1.36 ERA. As a starter when facing Los Angeles, Samardzija is 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA.
Carl Crawford and Joc Pederson return to the lineup, while Yasiel Puig starts a second consecutive game. With Alex Guerrero still dealing with knee soreness, Chase Utley gets the nod at third base.
Adrian Gonzalez and Howie Kendrick, both of whom started on Saturday, are replaced by Cody Bellinger and Micah Johnson at first and second base, respectively.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Carl Crawford
CF: Joc Pederson
RF: Yasiel Puig
3B: Chase Utley
DH: Scott Van Slyke
C: A.J. Ellis
SS: Kiké Hernandez
2B: Micah Johnson
1B: Cody Bellinger
Giants lineup:
LF: Gregor Blanco
2B: Joe Panik
DH: Brandon Crawford
RF: Jarrett Parker
1B: Conor Gillaspie
SS: Kelby Tomlinson
C: Trevor Brown
3B: Grant Green
CF: Gorkys Hernandez
