With the Los Angeles Dodgers’ winding down with their exhibition schedule, they received somewhat of a boost as Kiké Hernandez and Yasiel Puig returned to the lineup. Alex Wood took the mound in second and final meeting between the Dodgers and Texas Rangers this spring.
Wood opened the game with a strikeout of Delino DeShields, then retired the next two batters faced for a quick first inning of work. Derek Holland walked Puig with one out, and gave up a two-out single to Adrian Gonzalez.
The southpaw helped himself out by picking off Puig at second base. Ryan Rua hit a leadoff home run in the second inning to give the Rangers an early 1-0 lead. Wood quickly settled back in to get a pair of groundouts and struck out Drew Stubbs.
Holland retired Scott Van Slyke, Austin Barnes and Joc Pederson in order in the bottom of the second. Wood picked up another strikeout in the third, and later worked around a two-out error and base hit to keep the Rangers’ lead at 1-0.
Charlie Culberson led off the bottom of the third with a single. Hernandez briefly gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead with a home run, however umpires discussed it and overturned the home run. Hernandez wound up reaching on a fielder’s choice, but Puig struck out to end the inning.
Wood collected a pair of strikeouts in the fourth and worked around a two-out single to toss another scoreless inning. Gonzalez beat the shift with a one-out slap single to left, though nothing came of it as he was stranded by Van Slyke and Barnes.
CONTINUE READING: Justin Turner’s grand slam ties game
After a Ryan Strausborger one-out base hit in the fifth, he was moved into scoring position on DeShields’ sacrifice bunt. Elivs Andrus drew a walk to keep the inning alive, and it paid off as Rougned Odor hit a three-run home run.
Pederson and Culberson combined for back-to-back base hits with none out in the bottom of the fifth. Trayce Thompson pinch-hit for Wood and reached on an error to load the bases. After Hernandez hit into a force out and Puig popped out, Justin Turner tied the game with a grand slam.
Kenley Jansen entered in the sixth and collected one strikeout as he retired the Rangers in order. Tony Barnette followed suit by throwing a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth inning. Jansen remained in the game in the seventh and issued a leadoff walk to Strausborger, who then stole second base.
Jansen gave way to Chris Hatcher after getting DeShields to ground to third. With a runner standing on third base, Hatcher retired the two batters faced to send the game to the bottom of the seventh tied at 4-4.
Joe Blanton and J.P. Howell combined to throw a scoreless eight inning. A Rob Segedin leadodff walk in the bottom of the eighth didn’t amount to anything as Jacob Scavuzzo grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Howell quickly found himself in trouble in the ninth as the Rangers hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with none out. He worked out of the jam by getting a pair of strikeouts and with some help from Barnes, who picked off the runner at third base.
Drew Maggi led off the bottom of the ninth with a base hit, but was thrown out attempting to take second base on a pitch in the dirt. Barnes drew a walk, reached second base with two outs and scored on Culberson’s two-out single to center to give the Dodgers a 5-4 walk-off win.