McCarthy stamps while regulars rake

Phil Gurnee ♦ March 11, 2017 ♦ 1 Comment

Last night Brandon McCarthy and the Dodgers expected to be part of the opening day lineup laid waste to the Rangers. McCarthy pitched the best three innings of the spring among those battling for a spot in the rotation.  Granted he did it against an AAA Texas Ranger lineup but it still had encouraging signs. Six groundouts and three strikeouts for all nine outs. Zero walks for a pitcher who couldn’t find the plate last summer.

Other Pitching Highlights:

• Brandow Morrow struck out the side in his bid to make the bullpen
• Julio Urias threw two shutout innings.
• Jacob Rhame did his best to separate himself from Josh Ravin by pitching a scoreless 9th, while Josh Ravin was the only blemish on the night giving up four hits and two runs in his one inning of work.

Hitting Highlights:

• The regulars Forsythe, Puig, Turner, Grandal, and Pederson went a combined 9 for 11.
• Puig hit two home runs and walked in his three plate appearances
• Forsythe was also perfect with three singles from the lead off spot
• Turner could only manage to get on base twice in his three at-bats
• Grandal was given four at-bats and got on base in three of them. Surprisingly two of them were singles.
• Gutierrez finally got on the spring board by hitting a home run in the 1st inning. That was however his only hit as he continues to struggle this spring.