Steve Webb
Freeway Series Game 2: Dodgers 4, Angels 5
ANAHEIM, CA — The annual tune-up between your Los Angeles Dodgers and the other team with “Los Angeles” in its name moved to Anaheim on Monday night for the second of three exhibition games. Tyler Glasnow took the mound and was absolutely brilliant, giving up just one earned run in five very efficient innings as the Dodgers looked good until a messy ninth inning allowed the Angels to walk off the Dodgers with a three-run bottom of the ninth.
This game was almost a carbon copy of Sunday night’s contest, with the Angels jumping out to an early lead on a solo home run. And once again, Taylor Ward did the honors, taking Tyler Glasnow’s second pitch of the evening deep to center field to put the Halos on the board. But the Dodgers quickly countered with a solo shot of their own, courtesy of Teoscar Hernandez in the second, when he took righty Ryan Johnson into the the Dodgers bullpen to tie up the game.
Then, the Dodgers offense came alive in the middle innings. Austin Barnes slipped a single by the glove of third baseman Luis Regifo to plate two in the fourth, and then in the fifth, Teo struck again, driving in a run with a ground ball single through the infield.
Meanwhile, except for that one pitch, Glasnow was pretty near unhittable in this one, especially with his nasty breaking ball. In five strong innnings of work, Glasnow gave up just one hit other than the Ward dinger and struck out nine Angel hitters on 73 pitches (47 for strikes). The dude looks very ready for the season to begin.
The Angels got one back in the bottom of the sixth on a Mike Trout solo jack off Anthony Banda, but Blake Treinen looked sharp in a 1-2-3 seventh to move into the final innings with a 4-2 lead. Tanner Scott took the ball in the eighth, and though he gave up a hit, he finished the inning strong, striking out Nolan Schanuel and Mike Trout (Trout on three strike pitches).
In the ninth, Jorge Soler brought the home team a little closer with a big fly to left center to open up the inning off farmhand Jose Rodriguez. Then, a four-pitch walk and a single, followed by a 6-3 put-out put runners at second and third with just one out. A comebacker turned into an infield single and then the bases were loaded. Yikes! Another grounder in the infield tied the ballgame for Taylor Ward, who drilled a single into right to walk off the Dodgers by a score of 5-4.
The final freeway series game will be on Tuesday night in Anaheim. This one will see Dustin May take to the mound against righty Jack Kochanowicz. May hasn’t quite nailed down his form yet, with an ERA still north of 5.00 in five innnings of work over three games in Cactus League play. He looks to get off to a better start on Tuesday as the Dodgers play their final pre-season contest. Game time once again is 6:10 PDT. Then, it’s every baseball fan’s favorite day–Opening Day on Thursday.
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