After playing to a 13-13 tie in a wild affair with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Dodgers face another American League West opponent, the Oakland Athletics, on the road.
Los Angeles dropped three of four games to Oakland last season, which included getting swept in a two-game series at O.co Coliseum. It was the beginning of an eight-game road trip in August, and was followed by the Houston Astros sweeping a three-game set.
Kenta Maeda takes the hill at Hohokam Park for his second start with the Dodgers. The Japanese right-hander tossed two scoreless innings and had two strikeouts against the Arizona Diamondbacks in his debut.
In no particular order, Chris Anderson, Jose De Leon, Yimi Garcia, Adam Liberatore and Matt West are scheduled to pitch in relief.
Anderson began his morning by participating in the championship match of the Dodgers Spring Training ping pong tournament. Paired with Justin Turner, the duo lost to Brandon Beachy and Scott Van Slyke.
Anderson struck out three batters and allowed one hit in two scoreless frames in his spring debut against Arizona. Like Anderson and Maeda, De Leon also made his debut against the Diamondbacks. He recorded four strikeouts in two scoreless innings and earned the win.
Garcia is scheduled for his third appearance of the spring. He last pitched on Monday against the Cleveland Indians, throwing one scoreless inning with one strikeout. Liberatore allowed one run and had one strikeout in one inning pitched against the San Francisco Giants.
West also tossed one inning of relief against San Francisco, allowing one run. Right-handers Logan Bawcom (No. 88) and Felipe Gonzalez (No. 89) join the Dodgers from the Minor League side.
Dodgers pitchers will have their work cut out for them as Yander Alonso, Josh Reddick, Danny Valencia and Marcus Semien are all hot at the plate. Alonso, Reddick and Valencia are tied for second on the team with five hits.
Reddick has three RBIs in four games, while Valencia has two in four games. They’ll look to provided run support for Rich Hill, who makes his second start of the spring.
The left-hander issued three walks and allowed one run on two hits in 1.1 innings pitched against the Milwaukee Brewers. Oakland is coming off a 12-3 win over the Chicago White Sox, and are 4-3-1 in Cactus League play.
The Dodgers are again without Alex Guerrero (knee soreness) and Howie Kendrick (groin soreness). Chase Utley bats third and starts at second base, while Charlie Culberson is hitting eighth and gets the nod at third base.
Culberson is batting a blistering .700/.700/1.300 with one home run, one triple, one double and seven RBIs over six games.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Carl Crawford
SS: Kiké Hernandez
2B: Chase Utley
1B: Scott Van Slyke
DH: Andre Ethier
C: A.J. Ellis
CF: Trayce Thompson
3B: Charlie Culberson
RF: Rico Noel
Athletics lineup:
CF: Coco Crisp
2B: Chris Coghlan
RF: Josh Reddick
3B: Daniel Valencia
LF: Khris Davis
DH: Billy Butler
1B: Yander Alonso
SS: Marcus Semien
C: Bruce Maxwell
