Steve Webb
Freeway Series Game 2, 3/25/2024: Dodgers 0, Angels 6
LOS ANGELES, CA — And in other news…
On a day that was all about what happened in the press room a couple of hours earlier, the Dodgers played their second to last tune-up of the spring on Monday night, the Dodgers turned in a fairly anemic performance, threatening to score a couple of times, but failing to push a run across against lefty Reid Detmers and the “Los Angeles” Angels. Not a lot to cheer about in this 6-0 loss.
Gavin Stone got the start for the Dodgers and got bit by the same problem that plagued him in his rookie campaign: his tendency to give up the home run ball. After pitching a 1-2-3 first inning, it looked like Stone was on his way to another great outing, but one swing of the bat changed all that in the second inning. He recorded a couple of quick outs on 5-3 putouts, but then lost rookie Nolan Schanuel on a full count to walk the first baserunner of the game. Miguel Sano ripped a solid single into center to put men and first and second and then on the very next pitch, Angel catcher Logan O’hoppe blasted a home run to center field, and the Halos had themselves a quick 3-0 lead.
That would be all the scoring that the Angels would need in this one, although they did score one more run off Stone in the third and a couple more off reliever Daniel Hudson in the sixth to account for their six runs on the night. Stone gets his first loss of the spring, working 4.1 innings and giving up the four earned runs on four hits and a walk. I’m sure there are a couple of pitches he’d like back in this one, but it was a better outing than the line for the night reveals.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Stone said, when asked if he wanted the pitch to O’Hoppe back the moment it left his hand. “It should have been in. I just left it over the plate. … But other than that, I felt great. I feel like the command is better on all my pitches. I just left two pitches over the plate.”
The two late runs can’t be put all on the head of Daniel Hudson, who saw his spring ERA balloon to 6.00. A very catchable flyball turned into a ground-rule double thanks to some miscommunication between Teoscar Hernandez in right field and prospect Kendall George in center. With Outman and Heyward in there, the ball is likely an out and the rally is nipped in the bud.
As for the offense, perhaps the less said the better. Freddie Freeman got a double, but that was about it for the Dodger bats in this one. The team was able to collect only two more hits the entire night. They had a bases-load situation in the bottom of the first with two outs, but couldn’t get a key hit to get them back into the game. Then, after the two-run sixth from the Angels, a late inning comeback was unlikely because all the regulars were pretty much out of the game by then. And for those of you keeping track, Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-2 on Monday, bringing his average to 1-for-9 since the gambling story broke last week. A little distraction, perhaps?
Anyway, the freeway series wraps up on Tuesday night in Anaheim with Dodger fans getting the first extended look at James Paxton, who was acquired during the offseason. Paxton is hoping to bounce back from a couple of sub-par years, so we’ll see what he’s got when he takes the mound tonight. First pitch is at 6:00.
And then, on to the Home Opener!
