Frias leads shutout as Dodgers get to Giants

March 26th, 2016

PHOENIX -- Dodgers fifth-starter candidate Carlos Frias tossed four scoreless innings and his team's offense chased Clayton Blackburn in the first inning while coasting to a 13-0 win over the split-squad Giants, snapping the Dodgers' eight-game winless streak.
Frias had a busy game. He took catcher Austin Barnes' throw and tagged out Gregor Blanco trying to score from third on an errant pitch. Frias singled in a run, then was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. On the mound, he allowed six singles, struck out three and walked one.
"Everything was good," said Frias, given a chance for a rotation spot after injuries to Brett Anderson, Mike Bolsinger and Brandon Beachy. "I was able to attack the strike zone and be ahead in the count."

The Dodgers scored three runs off Blackburn in two-thirds of an inning, compounded by catcher Buster Posey's throwing error.
Adrian Gonzalez slugged a two-run homer off Tyler Mizenko in a three-run second inning, and the Dodgers added two more runs off Adalberto Mejia in the third, one scoring on Frias' RBI single. In the fifth inning, the Dodgers added three more runs off Mejia.

The Dodgers had eight players with RBIs and had seven extra-base hits, including a pair of doubles by Chase Utley.

For the Giants, the evening's brightest moment was Joe Amalfitano's return to the third-base coach's box. Amalfitano, a member of the Giants' front office since 2005, ended his last coaching stint with the Dodgers in 1998. On Friday, he coached for the first two innings.
"The only guy I got to talk to was [Brandon] Crawford, and that was for one pitch," said Amalfitano on a night when the Giants absorbed their lone shutout defeat of the spring.
Giants Up Next:Jeff Samardzija will make his final Arizona tuneup for the regular season Saturday when he confronts his original big league club, the Chicago Cubs, in a 1:05 p.m. PT encounter at Mesa, live on MLB.TV. John Lackey will oppose the Shark, who owns an 8.53 spring ERA.
Dodgers Up Next: The Dodgers play day-night split-squad games Saturday. In the 1:10 p.m. PT day game on the road, Scott Kazmir starts against Seattle and Wade Miley in Peoria. In the 7:05 PT night game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale, fifth-starter candidate Zach Lee will resume his tryout against the White Sox and Carson Fulmer. Lee had been optioned to Minor League camp before fifth-starter contenders Mike Bolsinger and Brandon Beachy were injured. Both games will be shown live on MLB.TV.