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Sports Feb 27, 2023
Dodgers catcher Will Smith. | Photo courtesy of Jeff Warrington/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
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Rookie right-hander Ryan Pepiot is scheduled to start for the Los Angeles Dodgers Monday when they face the San Diego Padres in a spring training game in Peoria, Arizona.
Pepiot was 3-0 with a 3.47 ERA in seven starts and two relief appearances for the Dodgers in 2022. He faced the Padres once, allowing an unearned run, and three hits, striking out two and walking four in two innings of relief Sept. 4 in a game the Dodgers won 9-4.
Pepiot is still considered a rookie because he has pitched fewer than 50 innings in the majors and has been on a major league roster for fewer than 45 days.
The Dodgers chose Pepiot in the third round of the 2019 MLB draft out of Butler University. He has a career 14-10 record with a 3.46 ERA in three minor league seasons, including a 9-1 record with a 2.56 ERA in 17 starts and two relief appearances in 2022 for the Dodgers’ Triple-A Oklahoma City affiliate.
The Dodgers’ starting pitchers in each of their first two 2023 spring training games, rookie right-hander Michael Grove and nonroster left-hander Robbie Erlin, both pitched one inning before being replaced.
Right-hander Nabil Crismatt will pitch for San Diego. Crismatt was 5-2 with a 2.94 ERA in 49 relief appearances and one start for the Padres in 2022. He had no record with a 5.19 ERA in 8 2/3 innings in six appearances against the Dodgers.
The game will be televised by SportsNet LA beginning at 12:10 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
On Sunday, non-roster catcher Hunter Feduccia homered and drove in five runs as the Dodgers defeated the Chicago Cubs, 9-4, in their spring training home opener at their Camelback Ranch facility in Glendale, Arizona.
Feduccia was among seven players who entered the game in the sixth inning with the Dodgers trailing 3-0.
Feduccia flew into a double play on his first at-bat in the bottom of the sixth as center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong threw out Yonny Hernandez who was trying to advance to second.
Feduccia hit a three-run homer off non-roster left-hander Bailey Horn in the seventh, giving the Dodgers a 5-4 lead.
Feduccia doubled in two runs in the eighth, increasing the Dodgers’ lead to 8-4. Non-roster outfielder Ryan Ward followed with a single, advancing Feduccia to third. Feduccia scored when outfielder Andy Pages grounded into a force out.
The Dodgers drafted Feduccia in the 18th round of the 2018 draft out of LSU. He split the 2022 season between the Dodgers’ Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City affiliates, hitting .238 with 15 home runs and 51 RBI in 83 games.
Eight relievers limited the Cubs to one run and four hits over the final 7 1/3 innings. Nonroster left-hander Adam Kolarek, the eighth of 10 Dodger pitchers, was credited with the victory, pitching a hitless seventh inning with one walk as the Dodgers evened their spring training record at 1-1.
Kolarek pitched for the Dodgers in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, including two-thirds of an inning in the Dodgers’ 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 of the 2020 World Series.
Kolarek was traded to Oakland during spring training in 2021 with minor league outfielder Cody Thomas in exchange for infielder Sheldon Neuse, whose Dodger career consisted of 33 games in 2021 before being waived and claimed by the Athletics, and minor league pitcher Gus Varland, who never played for the Dodgers before being claimed by the Milwaukee Brewers in the Rule 5 draft in December.
Kolarek signed with the Dodgers Dec. 13.
Chicago combined Christopher Morel’s leadoff double, singles by Mike Tauchman and Nick Madrigal, two stolen bases, a hit batter and a sacrifice fly for three runs in the second off right-hander Shelby Miller, the second Dodger pitcher.
Erlin retired three of the four batters he faced, including former Dodgers Zack McKinstry and Edwin Rios. Erlin struck out Rios on three pitches to end the inning.
Horn, the seventh Cubs pitcher, was charged with the loss, allowing three runs and two hits in two-thirds of an inning.
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