LOS ANGELES -- Hiroki Kuroda and Clayton Kershaw held Boston hitless into the eighth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up spring training by beating the road-weary Red Sox 8-0 on Sunday.
Things were back to normal at Chavez Ravine following Saturday night's nostalgia-filled side trip five miles down the freeway to the L.A. Coliseum -- where the Red Sox beat the Dodgers 7-4 before a record crowd of 115,300 in a game that brought the local fans back in time to the venue the Dodgers called home during their first four seasons in L.A.
Kuroda threw 40 of his 62 pitches for strikes over four innings, allowing only a leadoff walk to Dustin Pedroia and striking out six in the final dress rehearsal for his official Dodgers debut next Friday at San Diego against the defending NL West champion Padres.
The 33-year-old right-hander, who signed a $35.3 million, three-year contract in December after 11 professional seasons in the Japanese Central League with Hiroshima, was 2-1 with a 4.18 ERA in seven starts this spring.
Kershaw, one of eight players the Dodgers assigned to their minor league camp after the game, pitched four innings and also struck out six. The left-hander retired his first 10 batters before pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty lined a clean single to right-center on a 3-2 pitch with one out in the eighth.
Brian Falkenborg finished up the combined one-hitter with a perfect ninth.
Juan Pierre was the Dodgers' DH, a concession manager Joe Torre made to the Red Sox this weekend despite the fact that the games were played in an NL city.
Pierre, told before the game by Torre that Andre Ethier would start in left field on opening day instead of him, might have been a tad preoccupied by that news when he was picked off first base by Clay Buchholz in the third after getting the game's first hit.
The Dodgers went on to score four runs that inning to snap a scoreless tie. Jason Repko scored the first run on a bases-loaded walk to Russell Martin, Ethier followed with a two-run single on an 0-2 pitch and Jeff Kent capped the rally with an RBI single.
Buchholz threw 70 pitches over three-plus innings, allowing five runs -- four earned -- and five hits with five strikeouts.
The right-hander, who last season became the first rookie in franchise history to pitch a no-hitter, was 1-3 with a 10.03 ERA in four appearances this spring -- including three starts.
Notes
- Dodgers CF Andruw Jones sat out because of a cramp in his leg. Torre said he could have played, but wanted to stay on the safe side.
- Dodgers RHP Chan Ho Park is beginning the season in the minors because the team is going with an 11-man pitching staff for the time being. Had he remained with big club, Park would have been pitching out of the bullpen.
- Boston DH Manny Ramirez enters this season needing nine home runs for 500.
