Freeway Series: Corey Seager collects two hits in Dodgers’ 4-4 tie with the Angels
Corey Seager did not play baseball for much of March. Sidelined with a sore oblique muscle, on some days his physical activity did not expand beyond the low intensity of riding an elliptical machine or walking on a treadmill. When he did appear in games, he played against minor league competition in a controlled, low-key environment.
While Seager idled, his Dodgers teammates laughed about his need to engage in the tedium of spring training. For a player like Seager, the National League rookie of the year in 2016 and third in the voting for most valuable player, the Cactus League offers far more risk than reward.
“Honestly,” outfielder Scott Van Slyke said last month, “how many at-bats do you think Corey needs?”
In the Dodgers’ 4-4 tie with the Angels at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night in the final game of the Freeway Series, his first appearance in a major league game since March 3, Seager offered evidence to explain the confidence of his peers.
He came to the plate in the bottom of the first inning. Seager gauged a fastball from former Dodger Jesse Chavez for a strike. When another fastball caught more of the plate, Seager redirected it into left field for an opposite-field single.
Two pitches later, Seager trotted around the bases on Justin Turner’s home run. In his second at-bat, Seager hit another single. He left after five innings in the field. For Seager, the normal rules of rust do not apply.
“It’s always nice to play with everybody,” Seager said. “That’s the only thing that you miss out on, not playing, getting to know everybody, getting back in the lineup with everybody, just feeling everything out.”
On the latest tuneup before the start of the regular season, the Angels taxed Dodgers starter Brandon McCarthy for three runs in three innings.
Albert Pujols hit a majestic, two-run home run in the third inning. The Dodgers chased Chavez in the fourth inning.
Joc Pederson gave the Dodgers the lead with a two-run home run against Andrew Bailey. The Angels manufactured a comeback against minor league pitcher Michael Johnson in the ninth inning, when catcher Tony Sanchez hit a run-scoring double to tie the score.
With Seager back, manager Dave Roberts could unveil his full lineup for the first time in weeks. After using second baseman Logan Forsythe as the leadoff hitter for much of the spring, Roberts dropped Forsythe into the fifth position in the lineup and put outfielder Andrew Toles at the top of the order.
The shifts did not stem from disappointment in Forsythe. He entered Saturday’s game batting .360. Roberts felt Toles, who hit .340 as a rookie in 2016, could handle the leadoff assignment against left-handed pitchers, while Forsythe could help break up a rut of left-handed hitters in the middle of the group.
In Roberts’ proposed lineup, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez would bat fourth, with Pederson and Yasmani Grandal slated behind him. Gonzalez and Pederson bat left-handed.
Although Grandal is a switch-hitter, he has a more proficient history as a left-handed swinger. So the presence of Forsythe, a right-handed batter, would prevent an opposing manager from using a left-handed reliever to wipe out a third of Roberts’ lineup.
Roberts also mentioned the idea of “protection” for Gonzalez.
“All these different variables play into it, absolutely,” Roberts said.
On Saturday, the lineup stayed quiet, save for Turner’s early blast and Pederson’s sixth homer of the spring several innings later.
The Dodgers fell behind in the third inning, when an in-game experiment by McCarthy went awry.
With Pujols at the plate and a runner at first, McCarthy tried to change the shape of his cut fastball.
Looking to “do more with” the pitch, he explained, he left the ball hanging over the heart of the plate. Pujols crushed it.
“It’s something that over time, I’ll keep playing with,” McCarthy said. “In that situation, it’s not a pitch you throw him after you’ve thrown it three times. I tried to do it on the fly, and it really did not work.”
By the sixth inning, Roberts sent in substitutes for the left side of his infield.
Seager has played nine innings only once this spring. He completed that assignment earlier this week, after the Dodgers had left town for the start of the Freeway Series.
An injury-interrupted camp is nothing new for Seager. He missed a significant chunk of last spring, too, after he injured a knee. He required a few weeks to find his groove during the regular season, before catching fire in May. Seager hoped to avoid any April hiccups in 2017.
“You hope that it doesn’t keep happening,” Seager said. “It’s one of those things where I got ABs down in the minor leagues.
“I got everything that I needed. So hopefully it turns out well.”
Twitter: @McCulloughTimes
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