Greinke, Ryu off to good starts as Dodgers tie Sox

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu made scoreless debuts for the Dodgers and Adam Dunn went deep on the second pitch of his second at-bat for the White Sox in a 2-2 tie on Sunday.

Regardless of the final score of a game played during an unusually blustery day at Camelback Ranch, it was a win-win situation for both teams.

Ryu, who came to the Dodgers from Korea via a six-year, $36-million deal after the Hanwha Eagles accepted the Dodgers' $25 million bid, retired Blake Tekotte on a ground ball back to the mound and struck out Gordon Beckham to open the third. Dewayne Wise, celebrating his 35th birthday, launched a hanging curve to right for a triple, but the L.A. left-handed hurler retired Jeff Keppinger on a fly ball to left to end the inning.

Dunn, meanwhile, had made a Spring Training priority out of trying to attack opposing pitchers earlier in the at-bat in a move to raise his average and cut down his 222 strikeouts from last season. After working the count full and then grounding out in the first against Greinke, Dunn drove a 1-0 pitch from Peter Moylan out to left with Alex Rios on third in the fourth.

"In the first at-bat, I kind of wanted to swing early. Kind of get some stuff going, and he made some good pitches," Dunn said. "I just happened to go 3-2, and that last at-bat was something I was just going to try to get a pitch and the location I was looking and swing at it."

Greinke, signed to six-year, $147 million contract this past offseason, started for Los Angeles and worked two scoreless innings, striking out Wise and Rios in the first. Erik Johnson, one of the young hurlers for the White Sox getting spot-starts in this first week of Cactus League action, pitched three innings and yielded just one run on four hits while striking out two and walking one.

"It felt good to get out there against some real competitive players and hitters, and getting out there in a big league game," Johnson said. "I'm thankful for the opportunity."

Up next: Chad Billingsley and Chris Capuano will piggyback for the Dodgers against the Cubs (12:05 p.m. PT). The start for Billingsley will be his first game action since last August, when he was disabled with a partial elbow ligament tear that appears to have healed with platelet-rich plasma injections instead of Tommy John surgery. Capuano, already the subject of trade rumors, is trying to force his way back into the starting rotation after the offseason acquisitions of Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu.