The Los Angeles Dodgers took an early lead but heralded prospect Ryan Pepiot struggled in the first inning of his 2022 debut, which resulted in a 7-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners at Peoria Sports Complex.
Back-to-back singles by Trea Turner and Cody Bellinger set the table for Chris Taylor to collect his first RBI of the spring on a sacrifice fly.
Pepiot’s afternoon began with some bad luck as a jam-shot infield single was followed by his next pitch hitting a batter to put two on in the bottom of the first inning. After a walk loaded the bases with one out, Luis Torren’s RBI infield single tied the game.
Steven Souza Jr. then ambushed a first-pitch fastball at the knees to hit a grand slam that gave the Mariners a 5-1 lead over his former teammates. Cal Raleigh added an RBI double in the second.
Pepiot wound up allowing six runs on four hits over two innings of work. He additionally issued three walks and only collected one strikeout.
The Dodgers mounted a small rally in the third inning, when Turner and Bellinger again combined for back-to-back singles. Taylor’s walk loaded the bases and Austin Barnes had some fortune on his side when a grounder up the line hit off the bag for an infield single.
Although that scored a run, Barnes was inches away from potentially clearing the bases with a double. Gavin Lux ended a long at-bat with a sacrifice fly but the Dodgers failed to produce more runs and still trailed 6-3.
L.A. later cut into their deficit behind back-to-back home runs by Eddy Alvarez and Jason Martin. For Martin it represented a second consecutive game with a homer, and he holds the team lead thus far into Cactus League play.
Ryan Noda followed with a double, and Tomas’ Telis RBI single pulled the Dodgers to within 7-5 before the two-out rally stalled.
Martin had another opportunity with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, only to strike out swinging to end the game.
A slimmed-down Victor Gonzalez made his spring debut in the sixth inning and struck out two en route to retiring all three batters faced.
Next for Dodgers
Robbie Erlin is scheduled to start for the Dodgers when they face the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. First pitch at Camelback Ranch is set for 1:05 p.m.
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