Storied rivals Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants met on an overcast Sunday afternoon at Scottsdale Stadium for the first of two meetings this spring. Zach Lee took the hill for the Dodgers, while Jeff Samardzija started for the Giants.
Samardzija opened the game by striking out Carl Crawford on three pitches, setting the tone for the first inning. Joc Pederson was caught looking at strike three, and Yasiel Puig went down swinging as Samardzija struck out the side.
Zach Lee gave up a leadoff single to Gregor Blanco and caught a bad break as Crawford dropped a relatively routine fly ball in left field, leaving two on with no outs. Lee managed to work his way out of trouble and keep the game scoreless by retiring the next three batters faced.
Scott Van Slyke hit a one-out base hit up the middle in the second, only for it to be followed by A.J. Ellis grounding into an inning-ending double play on the first pitch of his at-bat.
Lee’s second inning of work was much easier than his first as he retired the side in order. He exited the game with one strikeout and 30 pitches thrown over two frames. Samardzija took the mound again for the third, which wound up being his most taxing inning of the day.
Micah Johnson’s single single was followed by Cody Bellinger’s opposite-field base hit to put runners on the corners with one out. Crawford added to Samardzija’s trouble with an RBI single that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.
After Pederson struck out looking for a second time, Puig hit a chopper up the middle that Kelby Tomlinson managed to get his glove on, limiting Puig to an infield single. Chase Utley left the bases loaded by striking out on a pitch low and inside.
CONTINUE READING: Carl Crawford Collects Second RBI, Dodgers Extend Lead In Eighth
Giants reliever Clayton Blackburn took over for Samardzija in the fourth inning and promptly issued a leadoff walk to Van Slyke. However, he was stranded by Ellis, Kiké Hernandez and Johnson.
Ross Stripling entered in the bottom of the fourth for his 2016 Spring Training debut. He walked a batter and collected one strikeout in a scoreless inning of work. Bellinger notched his second hit of the day in the fifth with a leadoff single.
He then scampered around to score on Crawford’s RBI triple that rolled to the fence in left-center field. Puig’s sacrifice fly extended the Dodgers’ lead to 3-1 before Blackburn managed to get through the inning.
Stripling allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth and hit Gorkys Hernandez with a pitch to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with no outs. Nothing came of it as Blanco grounded into a double play and Joe Panik flied out to right.
Matt West entered in the bottom of sixth and saw his first pitch deposited over the right field fence for a solo home run hit by Brandon Crawford that cut the Dodgers’ lead to 3-2. With the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Charlie Culberson hit a flare two-run single.
Chase De Jong erased a leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth by getting a double play. He then worked around a double to complete a second scoreless inning of relief. Logan Bawcom pitched the ninth to wrap up the Dodgers’ 5-2 win.