After nearly three weeks, Scott Kazmir returns to the Los Angeles Dodgers after missing time while working on his mechanics and also dealing with a hip injury. He’ll take on Cole Hamels and the Texas Rangers at Surprise Stadium.
Sunday’s matchup marks the Dodgers’ second game against the Rangers on the road in the past three days. Kazmir, the presumptive fourth starter entering the spring, had thrown one inning in his second start before being removed from the game with a hip tightness.
After an MRI came back negative, he was shut down for a week. One week later, he threw a simulated game and came out of it sound. However, a second simulated game had Dodgers manager Dave Roberts worried as the southpaw threw his fastball at just 82-84 mph.
Kazmir’s velocity today could determine whether he begins the season in the rotation or on the disabled list.
Hamels has made just two starts this spring with the Rangers, the first of which coming against the Dodgers. On March 11, he surrendered four earned runs to the Dodgers while recording just a single out.
Yasiel Puig and Franklin Gutierrez each took the veteran lefty deep, and both are in Sunday’s lineup. Hamels has made just one start since on the Major League side, allowing one earned run in four innings against the Chicago White Sox.
Justin Turner added his third homer of the spring on Saturday, raising his Spring Training on-base plus slugging percentage to 1.307. Chris Taylor added a pair of hits, including a triple, and is now batting .432. He starts in center field.
Dodgers lineup:
2B: Logan Forsythe
SS: Kiké Hernandez
3B: Justin Turner
LF: Franklin Gutierrez
C: Yasmani Grandal
DH: Yasiel Puig
1B: Scott Van Slyke
RF: Trayce Thompson
CF: Chris Taylor
P: Scott Kazmir
Angels lineup:
LF: Delino DeShields
SS: Elvis Andrus
3B: Adrian Beltre
1B: Mike Napoli
2B: Rougned Odor
C: Jonathan Lucroy
RF: Shin-Soo Choo
DH: Nomar Mazara
CF: Drew Robinson
