Freddie Freeman reached base safely in all three plate appearances in his return from the World Baseball Classic and the Los Angeles Dodgers twice came from behind in a 6-4 win against the Chicago White Sox.
The Dodgers were the designated road team for the matchup at Camelback Ranch, and Freeman’s base hit in the first inning helped lead to taking an early lead. Trayce Thompson followed with his own base hit, and Chris Taylor’s two-out infield single led to a run on Moises Castillo’s throwing error.
The Dodgers’ 1-0 lead was short-lived, however, as Michael Grove immediately ran into trouble. Andrew Benintendi tied the game with a leadoff home run, and singles by Adam Haseley and Jake Burger put the White Sox up 2-1.
Burger’s RBI flare hit into center field also temporarily knocked Grove out of the game due to a high pitch count. He returned and wound up completing 3.2 innings with just the two runs allowed. Grove finished with six strikeouts, his most in five Cactus League starts this year.
Jason Heyward’s leadoff walk in the fifth inning was followed by Freeman’s second hit of the game, and a wild pitch allowed both runners to advance. Nick Avila’s balk then brought Heyward in to tie the game.
The White Sox again responded and took another in the bottom of the fifth inning by scoring two runs.
Then it was the Dodgers who quickly erased their deficit, with Drew Avans and Ryan Ward each driving in a run. Taylor remained in the game to log a fourth at-bat and shook off consecutive strikeouts to lift a go-ahead, two-run home run to left field in the seventh inning.
The homer was Taylor’s first extra-base hit of Spring Training.
Dodgers bullpen shines
Yency Almonte, Brusdar Graterol and Shelby Miller are all projected to be part of the Dodgers bullpen come Opening Day, and each turned in a scoreless inning against the White Sox.
Almonte retired the side in order, while Graterol and Miller both allowed one hit.
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