Freeway Series Recap: Hernandez Homers In 9th, Dodgers Play To 8th Tie
Kendrick aggressively went first to third base on the play and Van Slyke moved into second on Trout’s attempt to throw out Kendrick. Later in the inning, Carl Crawford delivered with a two-out, two-run single that gave the Dodgers their first lead of the game at 4-3.
David Aardsma took the mound in the fifth inning and worked around a Pujols leadoff double to keep the Dodgers’ lead intact. Santiago walked Joc Pederson and Rollins to open the bottom of the fifth before getting Puig to fly out.
Santiago was then replaced by Scott Snodgress, but the lefty-on-lefty matchup went in the Dodgers’ favor as Andre Ethier welcomed him with an RBI single to extend the extending the Dodgers’ lead to 5-3. Vinnie Pestano was then called on to get the final two outs of the inning.
Josh Ravin took over for the Dodgers in the sixth and struggled mightily with his command. He walked three batters and recorded just one out before manager Don Mattingly brought the hook. David Huff inherited the bases-loaded jam and put an end to the Angels’ threat by getting Taylor Featherston to pop up and catching Matt Joyce looking for strike three.
However, Huff’s second inning of work was nothing like his first. Cron reached on a shallow fly ball to center field that Darwin Barney and Pederson weren’t able to get to. The players collided and Cron was standing on second with a double after the dust settled.
Roberto Baldoquin scored him with an RBI single to center and the Dodgers’ lead was cut to 5-4. Cowgill’s two-out RBI double tied the game and Giavotella’s RBI single gave the Angels the lead before Huff could get out of the inning.
Mike Morin walked Chris Heisey with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and gave up a single to Ethier, but the Dodgers were unable to sustain the two-out rally and continued to trail, 6-5 after seven innings. Ryan Butcher walked Joyce with one out in the eighth, but he was quickly erased on an inning-ending double play.
Scott Schebler hit a two-out double off Ryan Mattheus, who then got Justin Turner to ground out and the Angels took a 6-5 lead into the ninth inning. Chin-hui Tsao pitched the ninth for the Dodgers and allowed a one-out double as Schebler was unable to come up with a sliding catch in left field.
The runner got as far as third base with two outs before Tsao ended the inning with a strikeout. Similar to Huff, Mattheus’ second inning of work didn’t go as well as his first. The Angels’ right-hander gave up a solo to Kiké Hernandez to lead off the bottom of the ninth that tied the game at 6-6.
Barney followed with a single and appeared to steal second base with one out after a failed sac-bunt attempt by Heisey. However, the home plate umpire called interference on pinch-hitter Alex Guerrero on strike three and Barney was forced back to first base.
Barney wound up reaching second base on a wild pitch and Mattheus went to a full count before walking Buck Britton, who was the last batter he faced. Trevor Gott relieved Mattheus and induced a ground ball out to end the game; the tie was the Dodgers’ eighth of the spring and they finished with a 16-11-8 record.
[divide]Chris Heisey Discusses First Spring Training With Dodgers
