After their first off day of the spring on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers returned to the field Wednesday night as they hosted the division-rival Colorado Rockies at Camelback Ranch. The Dodgers bats stayed hot despite the off day as they came away with an 11-6 victory.
Kiké Hernandez stole the show early as he drove in five runs in his first two at-bats against Rockies starter Jon Gray. He hit a three-run home run to left in his first plate appearance and then followed it up with a two-run double, scoring Logan Forsythe and Austin Barnes both times.
Ross Stripling got the start on the mound for the Dodgers and got into a little trouble early as he gave up back-to-back doubles to begin the game. That was the only run he gave up in his outing though as he escaped some trouble in his three innings of work. He gave up four hits while striking out four.
A couple relievers pitching after Stripling struggled a bit as J.T. Chargois entered in the fourth and walked the leadoff hitter. He then gave up a single and a sacrifice fly, marking the first run that has been charged to him in five innings this spring.
Scott Alexander then followed in the fifth and like Chargois, he walked the leadoff man. Again it came back to haunt the Dodgers as Alexander wound up loading the bases with no outs and two runs came home to score on a double play ball and a wild pitch, cutting the Dodgers lead to 5-4.
The Rockies then tied the game in the top of the seventh as Pedro Baez gave up a trio of ground ball hits. One of them should have been an error charged to shortstop Errol Robinson, but the scorekeeper ruled it an infield hit.
The Dodgers took the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh though as they added four more runs, all with two outs. Chris Taylor led off the inning with a hustle double and then scored on a single by Bellinger. Yasiel Puig then drove in Bellinger with a double after Matt Kemp singled.
Jake Peter then continued his hot spring, driving in both Kemp and Puig to give him a team-leading 14 RBI on the spring. The Dodgers then added two more in the ninth to complete the 11-6 victory.
