With a full slate of World Baseball Classic games underway, the Los Angeles Dodgers are without some of their best players in camp, and their roster became even shorter with a pair of split-squad games on Saturday.
The Dodgers hosted the Chicago Cubs at Camelback Ranch while the rest of their team went to play the San Francisco Giants at Scottsdale Stadium.
Noah Syndergaard made the start against the Cubs and looked impressive in his third Cactus League outing. The 30-year-old pitched four scoreless innings while picking up four strikeouts to open his day.
However, in the fifth inning, Yon Gomes put the Cubs up with a solo home run off Syndergaard. The right-hander then recorded one out before he was replaced by Alex Vesia after throwing 55 pitches. Syndergaard gave up just three hits with no walks in the outing.
Mike Tauchman immediately greeted Vesia into the game with a home run on the first pitch the left-hander threw. Vesia’s fifth pitch was then slugged by Christopher Morel to make it back-to-back solo shots that put the Cubs up 3-0.
The Dodgers responded in the bottom half of the fifth inning when James Outman hit his second homer of the spring. Outman continues his impressive showing in Cactus League play as he pushes to make the Dodgers Opening Day roster and possibly earn a starting job.
But the Cubs came back in the sixth inning to extend their lead to three runs again thanks in part to an error from Miguel Rojas that allowed Trey Mancini to reach third base. Gomes followed the error with his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly against Jimmy Nelson.
The Dodgers rallied for a run in the bottom of the eighth with two outs when Hamlet Marte doubled and Hunter Feduccia followed with a single to cut the Cubs’ lead back to two runs, but their comeback bid ended after that.
Jake Slaughter hit a solo home run to provide the Cubs with some breathing room in the ninth inning.
The Dodgers lineup collectively struggled in the 5-2 loss, only recording four hits in the game, with three of them coming via the Minor League players who entered off the bench. Among their regulars, Max Muncy, J.D. Martinez and Rojas each went hitless in their plate appearances.
Dodgers pitching against Cubs
Outside of Vesia, pitching by Dodgers regulars was effective against the Cubs, combining to allow three earned runs. All came on solo home runs, with Vesia giving up two of them. But in Spring Training, there’s no real reason for concern with the 26-year-old, who should once again be one of the Dodgers’ top relievers this season.
Caleb Ferguson and Evan Phillips each worked a scoreless inning.
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
