The Los Angeles Dodgers’ first brush with split-squad games this spring was a forgettable affair, as the club lost games to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals. In a stark contrast to his 2017 debut, Hill struggled against the Royals.
He managed to pitch just 1.1 innings, was charged with four runs, issued two walks and had one strikeout. Hill was removed with the Dodgers trailing, 3-0, and a runner on second base. Layne Somsen entered and immediately had trouble locating the zone.
Somsen issued two walks to load the bases, then handed out a third consecutive free pass, bringing in a run. Jorge Soler’s sacrifice fly extended Kansas City’s lead to 5-0 before Somsen could work his way out of the inning.
Ian Kennedy erased a one-out walk of Franklin Gutierrez by inducing Kiké Hernandez into a double play to end the second inning. The Dodgers mustered some offense in the third behind back-to-back singles by Andre Ethier and Cody Bellinger.
Chase Utley’s sacrifice fly trimmed the Royals’ lead to 5-1. While Ross Stripling threw a scoreless third inning, he couldn’t replicate that in the fourth. A Whit Merrifield triple was cashed in on Cheslor Cuthbert’s sacrifice fly.
Yasiel Puig hit a ground-rule double in the bottom of the fourth, but was stranded by Gutierrez and Hernandez, who both struck out. With runners on the corners and one away in the fifth, Utley hit into a force out that trimmed the Dodgers’ deficit to 6-2.
Josh Field’s second appearance of the spring was another rocky one, as he allowed a solo home run to Raul Mondesi. The Dodgers didn’t generate any offense over the final three innings and suffered a 7-2 home loss to the Royals.
