Alex Wood and Kenley Jansen each turned in a scoreless inning, later praised one another in the clubhouse, and the Los Angeles Dodgers won their Cactus League home opener by defeating the Chicago Cubs, 4-2.
Mookie Betts went 0-for-2 with a go-ahead RBI in his Dodgers debut. He was in position to put L.A. ahead thanks to Gavin’s leadoff base hit in the bottom of the fifth inning. Luke Raley’s single then put runners at the corners with one out.
Betts’ sacrifice fly to center field easily scored Lux. Although position players will often take a game off between starts, Betts is expected to be in the lineup again Monday. “It’s just going out and playing,” Betts said.
Prior to Betts pushing the Dodgers ahead, the Cubs took a 1-0 lead on Victor Caratini’s home run off Jordan Sheffield in the fourth inning. The hit was Caratini’s second of the game as he previously doubled off Wood with two outs in the first.
That was the lone hit Wood allowed, which came after he fell behind in the count. He got ahead on the first two batters faced and retired each. Included in that was striking out Kyle Schwarber swinging.
“It was a good first start,” Wood said. “I felt good. I’ve been throwing for a while, so I’ve been itching. Live BP is a little bit better, but finally getting into a game, feeling great, all my stuff was really good, feeling health. It was a really good first start.”
Long after Wood exited and Betts gave the Dodgers a lead, DJ Peters added to it by blooping a two-run double into center field with the bases loaded. That loomed large as the Cubs cut into their deficit by scoring what would have been the tying run in the eighth had Peters not found outfield grass.
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