One exhibition game down. Two more to go, only three days until they really count. But first, a brief look at what went on in the Dodgers’ world yesterday.
Last night, the Dodgers played their first game of Summer Camp against another team; the Arizona Diamondbacks. It’s the first exhibition game for the Blue Crew in 130 days (since the season was put on hold due to the pandemic). The Dodgers fell behind early via a solo home run by Ketel Marte in the top of the first inning. Once the teams switched sides, the Dodgers loaded the bases without recording an out. Then came Cody Bellinger, who cracked a moon shot just inside the right field foul pole for a grand slam. The Dodgers held the lead and never looked back, winning the game 9-2. They’ll play Arizona one more time tonight before the Angels come to town on Tuesday.
Pitching prospect Mitchell White had himself an impressive outing. After the solo shot by Marte, he retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced in his five innings of work. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts originally planned for White to go only four innings, but gave him the fifth since he was pitching so well. After the game, Roberts praised White, “a lot of credit to Mitchell. Five innings and just threw the baseball well tonight. It was fun to watch him and great experience for him.”
Top Dodgers pitching prospect Josiah Gray will start the last exhibition game against the Angels on Tuesday. It will be his first outing against a major league lineup that isn’t the Dodgers. Although he’s thrown well during intrasquad games, how he performs against hitters like Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and Shohei Ohtani will be an important test.
Dustin May is scheduled to throw on Wednesday, the same day Walker Buehler will throw a simulated game. So, it could be May vs. Buehler in the simulated session. This helps validate the possibility that May will be piggybacking Buehler in his shortened starts at the beginning of the season.
During a Zoom press conference before yesterday’s game, Dave Roberts hinted the lineups in the three exhibition games will be an indication of what to look forward to during the regular season. He also mentioned he has “a good idea of what we wanna do” as far as the construction of the Opening Day roster.
Since the truncated season leaves little room for error, Roberts was asked how he’ll evaluate players compared to a regular 162 game season. Doc acknowledged needing to be more proactive than usual. For example, Doc indicated that he’ll use less than the standard 100 at bats to gauge players statistically. He also mentioned that “you still have to use your eyes” to evaluate players as well.
Catcher Austin Barnes was hit by a pitch on the top of his left hand during an at bat in the bottom of the fourth inning of last night’s game. He was taken out of the game to get x-rayed when the teams switched sides; the results were negative. Doc says he’ll be back to play the final exhibition game Tuesday against the Angels.
Oskar is a writer for Dodgers-Lowdown. Follow him on Twitter @2Rawsko94. Graphic credit: Alberto Amezola, Jr.