The Dodgers find themselves as winners of six straight games after defeating the Angels by a final score of 5-3 on Wednesday at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
Landon Knack made his second start of the spring and quickly ran into trouble right out of the gates, serving a leadoff home run to Mickey Moniak and an opposite field home run to Mike Trout two batters later.
Kiké Hernández and Austin Barnes both collected base hits to open up the second inning, and Hernández brought the first Dodgers run home on a groundout from Andy Pages.
The Angels would tack on a third run off of Landon Knack from a Kevin Newman RBI single before Eddie Rosario cut the deficit back down to one run on his second home run of the spring, ending a 1-14 stretch. Although he’s hitting just .167, Rosario sports a .500 slugging percentage and a .786 OPS through 21 plate appearances.
Miguel Rojas led off the top of the sixth inning with a single up the middle, eventually reaching third base on a failed pickoff attempt from pitcher Chase Silseth. Chris Taylor walked to put runners at the corners before Kiké Hernández smacked his second double of the day, driving in both runners and giving the Dodgers their first lead of the game.
After Knack’s departure, the Dodgers bullpen helped keep the Angels off the scoreboard, as they combined for seven shutout innings, striking out six and allowing just one hit and two walks. Ben Casparius and Alex Vesia both recorded two strikeouts in a combined 2 1⁄3 innings of relief, while Jarred Karros was the only reliever to pitch multiple complete innings.
Left-hander Joe Jacques locked up the save for the Dodgers, adding to his impressive spring where he has posted a 1.80 ERA with seven strikeouts across five appearances.
Up next
The Dodgers are back at Camelback Ranch on Thursday, as they host the Texas Rangers (12:05 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Dustin May makes his third cactus start for the Dodgers, looking to rebound after allowing four runs in his previous outing against the Angels. Right-hander David Buchanan gets the start for Texas.
