Dodgers 10, Brewers 8: More defensive drills necessary

The Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers played their second game of the spring schedule, and it looked exactly like you’d expect the second game after a winter off to look.

Wily Peralta started the game for the Brewers, with the expectation he would pitch two innings as he prepares to make a start for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. That plan was nearly in jeopardy, as he labored through a multi-baserunner first inning before being bailed out by Jett Bandy, who threw out two would-be basestealers. The Jett appears to be equipped with missiles. Peralta’s second inning was an easy one, ending on a quick double play.

Jonathan Villar led off the Brewers half of the first inning with a walk, then promptly got picked off by Dodgers lefty Rich Hill and was thrown out at second for his first caught stealing this spring. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to make sure he didn't fall too far behind Hernan Perez in that department.

Jorge Lopez came on in the third inning and had a rough afternoon. After giving up a sharp leadoff single, Lopez snared a hopper up the middle, but misfired on a throw to second base, leaving everyone safe. Charlie Culberson followed that up with another hard single up the middle to load the bases. A single by Justin Turner brought in the first two runs of the game, then another two came in when Ryan Cordell lost a flyball in the sun (it was the second ball Cordell lost in the "high sky," but he caught the first one). Lopez eventually got out of the inning with two flyouts, racking up 31 pitches in his appearance.

Cordell redeemed himself in the bottom half of the inning, drilling a line drive home run out to left to cut the Dodgers lead to 4-2.

With Lopez unable to go his scheduled 2 innings, Tristan Archer came over from minor league camp and pitched the fourth. The side-arming righty ended up loading the bases, then gave up a run on a little dribbler from Chase Utley when he couldn't throw Utley out at first in time. Scott Van Slyke followed that up with a two-run single to push the lead to 7-2.

Luckily for the Brewers, the Dodgers seemed disinterested in catching the baseball today. Domingo Santana and Hernan Perez led off the 4th inning with back-to-back singles. Scooter Gennett -- playing third base today -- followed that up with a drive to deep left-center that went off the glove of the defender, allowing Santana to score. Another Dodger misplay -- Utley trying to bare-hand a chopper by Cordell up the middle, with the ball getting through to the outfield -- led to two more Brewer runs in the inning and a 7-5 score.

Scooter got his first real defensive test at third base in the 5th inning, making a long throw across the diamond to throw out catcher Austin Barnes by a step or two.

Keon Broxton drove in a run in the Brewers’ half of the 5th, bringing in Villar with a double into the gap in left center that rolled to the wall. Latin Babe Ruth Hernan Perez followed with a double of his own to chase Broxton home and tie the game at 7.

Brett Phillips led off the 6th inning with a single, then scored on a single from Jesus Aguilar after another Dodgers misplay in right field and busting out his best Matrix moves to avoid a tag and literally crawl across the plate. You really just need to see it for yourself, then imagine Phillips laughing at himself.

The Brewers' 8-7 lead didn't last for long, though, as Rob Segedin tied the game in the 7th with a solo home run over the batter's eye off of Andy Oliver.

Dodgers top prospect Cody Bellinger untied the game an inning later, crushing a solo shot into the practice fields beyond the stadium off of Andrew Barbosa. Alex Verdugo followed it up with another solo shot to make it 10-8 Dodgers.

The Brewers fall to 0-2 in the Cactus League, while the Dodgers are now 2-0. Milwaukee plays Texas on Monday afternoon.

Here’s a bunch of boxes with scores in them.