The Los Angeles Dodgers returned from their first off day of 2019 Spring Training and suffered a loss to the Cleveland Indians for a second time in as many matchups under the lights, this time falling 6-1 at Camelback Ranch.
Rich Hill hoped to go five innings in his third start but conceded he likely would be restricted to just four. He pitched into the fourth inning, giving way to Jaime Schultz after allowing a leadoff single.
The hit was one of three he allowed on 46 pitches. He struck out four and stranded leadoff doubles in the first and third innings.
Schultz compounded his failure to field a comebacker by throwing the ball away, allowing the Indians to take a 1-0 lead. Hanley Ramirez added to it by lining an RBI single into right field.
While it came in a loss, the Dodgers saw positive relief appearances from Kenley Jansen and Yimi Garcia. Jansen allowed a leadoff single but also struck out a pair in his scoreless inning of work. Jansen’s fastball hovered around 92 mph, which was up a tick from his 2019 debut.
Meanwhile, Garcia allowed consecutive two-out singles before completing a fourth scoreless appearance this spring. Caleb Ferguson couldn’t quite match Jansen and Garcia, as he surrendered a solo home run to Oscar Mercado in the seventh.
There was little Dodgers offense to speak of on the night, as David Freese’s double and Kiké Hernandez’s RBI extra-base hit drove in the team’s lone run in the fourth inning.
