The Los Angeles Dodgers were forced to do some reshuffling Saturday as Alex Wood was scratched from his scheduled start against the Chicago Cubs due to left forearm tightness. Brandon Beachy, initially slated to face the Seattle Mariners, started in place of Wood.
The domino effect included Carlos Frias, who was called on to start at Peoria Sports Complex. Along with the Dodgers playing their first split-squad games of 2016 Spring Training, it was also their first game under lights this year.
James Paxton quickly worked his way through the first inning by retiring Kiké Hernandez, Trayce Thompson and Andre Ethier in order. Carlos Frias followed suit, which included striking out Nori Aoki and Ketel Marte.
Neither team had a runner reach base in the second, with Frias ending the bottom half of the inning on a called strike three pitch to Kyle Seager.
Alex Hassan reached on a one-out error by Seager in the top of the third. Elian Herrera followed with a base hit, but both runners were stranded as Paxton retired Hernandez and Thompson.
Franklin Gutierrez led off the bottom of the third with a base hit and came around to score on Steve Clevenger’s RBI double. Clevenger advanced to third base on the throw, then scored on Boog Powell’s RBI groundout.
Frias allowed another single before working out of the inning with the Mariners leading, 2-0. Ethier and Scott Van Slyke opened the fourth with back-to-back singles off Paxton.
The left-hander nearly worked his way out of trouble as he got Ellis to ground into a double play. Marte’s throwing error on Rob Segedin grounder kept the inning alive and allowed the Dodgers to get on the board.
CONTINUE READING: Mariners unable to capitalized on loading the bases in 9th and 10th
Ross Stripling entered in the bottom of the fourth and retired Nelson Cruz, Adam Lind and Seager in order. Hassan led off the fifth with a base hit, which was followed by a two-run home run off Herrera’s bat to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
After drawing a two-out walk in the bottom of the fifth, Powell stole second base. Aoki kept the inning alive by fouling off multiple pitches before eventually drawing ball four. Stripling worked his way out of trouble by getting Marte to ground into a force out.
Cano hit a solo home run off Chase De Jong in the sixth to tie the game at 3-3. Herrera reached second base on a throwing error to start the seventh inning, which proved costly for Seattle.
Brandon Twinkon followed with an RBI single to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead before Andrew Moore managed to get out of the inning. Arby Fields drew a walk to open the bottom of the seventh, stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error.
A Jack Murphy leadoff walk was erased by a double play, and a Segedin two-out base hit didn’t amount to a rally for the Dodgers in the eighth. Ian Thomas hit Rob Brantly with a pitch to put the go-ahead run on with one out.
Brantly was pinch-run for by Austin Cousino, who was thrown out attempting to steal second base. Thomas then walked Gabby Sanchez, but retired Tyler Smith to send the game to the ninth inning tied at 4-4.
The Dodgers had two runners reach via walks, only for them to be stranded. Left-hander Grant Dayton walked Arby Fields and Steven Lerud with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. After a sacrifice bunt advanced both runners, Dayton intentionally walked Daniel Robertson.
Red Patterson replaced Dayton and retired the two batters faced to keep the score knotted at 4-4. One out after walking Murphy, Rafael Pineda allowed a towering two-run home run to Segedin. With Herrera standing on first base, Brandon Trinkwon’s RBI triple tacked on an insurance run.
Rico Noel then padded the lead with an RBI single. Seattle loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, but were unable to extend their rally.
The 8-4 win gave the Dodgers a sweep of Saturday’s split-squad action as they won in walk-off fashion against the Chicago Cubs at Camelback Ranch.