The Los Angeles Dodgers continued Cactus League play on Monday as they travel to Surprise to take on the Texas Rangers. The Dodgers bats came alive after staying quiet the last couple of days, resulting in a 9-6 victory.
Alex Wood made his first start of the spring for the Dodgers, and he struggled a bit as he walked the first two hitters he faced. He then gave up an RBI-single to Nomar Mazara and a second run came home later in the inning on a steal of home.
Wood was done after just the one inning, giving up a hit and walking two, resulting in two earned runs while he also recorded a strikeout.
The Dodgers bats picked up Wood though, as they responded with three runs in the top of the second, with two of them coming on a double down the right-field line off the bat of Cody Bellinger. He finished the game going 1-for-2 with a walk.
A pair of pitchers coming off injury followed Wood, as Yimi Garcia pitched in his first game in over a year and Adam Liberatore made his first appearance since last July. Both pitchers looked good as they combined to retire all six hitters they faced.
Los Angeles added to its lead in the fifth inning, as Rangers reliever Steve Delabar struggled to get any Dodgers hitters out. Three runs scored as Kiké Hernandez tripled, Kyle Farmer and Trayce Thompson both singled, and Bellinger and Austin Barnes both reached via walk.
The Dodgers put the game out of reach in the sixth as they tacked on two more runs, with the last two coming on a double by Farmer. He went 3-for-3 with three RBIs in the game.
The Rangers added three runs in the bottom of the seventh off non-roster invitee Andrew Robinson to cut the deficit to 9-6, but the Dodgers did a nice job of shutting the door on any sort of comeback attempt and came away with the victory.
