Scott Kazmir’s first Cactus League start since March 6 yielded much of the same from his two previous outings. He threw 66 pitches and labored through three innings, which fell two short of the target.
Whereas Cole Hamels only managed to record one out his last time facing the Los Angeles Dodgers, he retired the side in order in the first inning. With his velocity hovering in the mid 80s, Kazmir issued a pair of walks and hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out.
However, the southpaw managed to limit the Texas Rangers to one run. Franklin Gutierrez drew a leadoff walk in the second inning but was erased on a Yasmani Grandal groundout.
Yasiel Puig followed with a double, and Scott Van Slyke’s RBI groundout tied the game. Kazmir walked Shin-soo Choo to start the bottom of the second, then Nomar Mazara singled. Delino DeShields later walked to the load the bases, but Kazmir again limited the Rangers to one run on a sacrifice fly.
Mike Napoli led off the bottom of the third with a booming solo home run, extending the Rangers’ lead to 3-1. Kazmir issued another walk and hit his second batter of the game, though nothing came of it.
He ultimately allowed three runs on three hits, walked five and had one strikeout. Kazmir continued his afternoon work by throwing in the bullpen. Adam Liberatore allowed one-out single and had a batter reach base via error in a scoreless fourth inning.
Chris Taylor grounded into a force out, later stole second base and advanced to third, but was stranded by Logan Forsythe. The same happened to Gutierrez after he doubled with two outs in the sixth, and the Dodgers’ deficit remained 3-1.
Los Angeles left another runner in scoring position when Van Slyke walked and stole second base in the seventh inning. Ross Stripling worked around a leadoff double in the bottom of the seventh to keep the Dodgers within two runs of the Rangers.
Stripling completed a second inning of relief in the eighth, that time working around a one-out double. Bobby Wilson led off the ninth with a base hit, Rob Segedin followed with a double, and O’Koyea Dickson’s RBI groundout cut the Rangers’ lead to 3-2.
That was it for the Dodgers, however, as Anthony Bass retired Ike Davis and Tyler Holt to earn a save. Rangers relievers combined to allow just one run on three hits and had three strikeouts in four innings.