Manny, Dodgers' split squad open series in Taiwan with loss

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Manny Ramirez and the rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers had a quiet opening in Taiwan.

Ramirez went 0 for 3 as the designated hitter, and a Dodgers' split squad heavy on minor leaguers was held to three hits Friday night in a 5-2 loss to a team of Taiwanese All-Stars that opened a three-game exhibition series.

Just 24 hours after the Dodgers landed following a 15-hour flight from Arizona, starter Y.C. Lin limited Los Angeles to one hit in four shutout innings.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre said the outfield positioning took away potential hits.

"They were playing deep on us," Torre said. "They played a good game."

The Dodgers' Eric Stults, a potential fifth starter, struck out four and walked one in three hitless innings.

"He mixed his pitches well," Torre said. "He located well."

Taiwan took a 2-0 lead in the fifth on a two-out walk, Wang Sheng-wei's RBI double and Pan Wu-hsiung's run-scoring single.

Taiwanese star Chin-hung Hu had a two-run single for the Dodgers in the eighth.

Ramirez, Stults, James Loney, Ronnie Belliard and Jamey Carroll were the only regular major leaguers to see action for Los Angeles. The majority of Dodgers' 31-man roster spent last year in the minors.

The three-game series, which resumes Saturday in Taipei and concludes Sunday in the southern city of Kaohsiung, marks the team's second appearance in Taiwan. The Dodgers first played on the island in 1993.