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Ramon Ortiz making a strong push to become Dodgers’ fifth starter

Los Angeles Times staffer Mike DiGiovanna
By Mike DiGiovanna
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Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said before Monday’s game that there is no clear-cut leader for the fifth spot in the team’s rotation, but there could be now.

Ramon Ortiz, the 36-year-old right-hander who spent the first six years of his big-league career with the Angels, threw four scoreless innings against his former team in Tempe Diablo Stadium on Monday, allowing only a pair of infield singles. Ortiz struck out five, including Angels center fielder and No. 3 batter Torii Hunter twice.

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Ortiz has now thrown nine scoreless innings in three Cactus League appearances, allowing five hits, striking out 11 and walking two. He is competing with James McDonald, Russ Ortiz, Eric Stults and Charlie Haeger for the fifth spot in the rotation.

-- Mike DiGiovanna in Tempe, Ariz.

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Mike DiGiovanna

Mike DiGiovanna has been covering Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Times since 1995 and spent 19 years as the Angels beat writer and two seasons on the Dodgers. He won Associated Press Sports Editors awards for game-story writing in 2001, feature-story writing in 2017 and breaking news in 2019. A native of East Lyme, Conn., and a graduate of Cal State Fullerton, he began writing for The Times in 1981.

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