Jones has a big day in defeat
SPRING REPORT / ARIZONA 9, DODGERS 8
Center fielder has three hits, including a home run off Randy Johnson. Kent might not be ready by opening day.
TUCSON -- Justin Upton's two-run home run off Rudy Seanez in the eighth inning today capped a Diamondbacks comeback from a six-run deficit and gave Arizona a 9-8 victory over the Dodgers, erasing a stellar afternoon by Andruw Jones.
Jones had three hits, including his third home run of the spring, a two-run shot off Randy Johnson in the fourth. Jones later added a double, a single and a stolen base, scoring twice.
Matt Kemp also had a big day, keying a five-run sixth inning with a two-run double off the top of the center-field wall, increasing his spring training-best RBI total to 17. That hit, Kemp's second, also gave the Dodgers an 8-3 lead.
The Dodgers also got RBI hits in that inning from Chin-lung Hu, Ramon Martinez and Rafael Furcal. But they wouldn't score again.
The Diamondbacks started their comeback in the bottom of the sixth on a three-run, two-out home run by Chris Snyder, his second of the afternoon.
The Dodgers' Chan Ho Park, who hadn't given up an earned run this spring, gave up three on Snyder's first homer. Park is locked in a tight battle with Esteban Loaiza for the final spot in the rotation.
Snyder's second three-run homer, a towering blow that traveled more than 440 feet, came on the third pitch from reliever Mike Koplove. Upton's game-winner came off Seanez, who hadn't given up a hit in three previous appearances.
The game, the Dodgers' second in Arizona, was played before a standing room-only crowd of 11,374 at Tucson Electric Park, the largest crowd to see the Dodgers play in the U.S. this spring. A day earlier in Phoenix the Dodgers also drew a standing room only crowd with the East Valley Tribune reporting tickets were reselling for $200.
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Jeff Kent may be running out of time to get ready for opening day, Manager Joe Torre said, which could leave the Dodgers with two big holes to fill in their infield.
"It may be debatable whether he has enough at-bats," Torre said of Kent, who hasn't played in a major league game since March 4 because of a strained right hamstring. "I know opening day is in sight. We have to evaluate how much is enough and make that decision."
