Dodgers get a little of everything in 11-11 tie with Texas Rangers

You take your good with the bad in spring training, often within the same game, and all, naturally, spread around a decent amount of so-so.

The Dodgers had plenty to enjoy about their 11-11 tie with the Rangers on Tuesday in Surprise, Ariz., but hardly all of it. Teams usually don’t when it comes to games with 22 runs scored and seven errors.

The Dodgers exploded for seven runs in the fifth inning, and didn’t even have to use the kids to rally back from a 3-1 deficit. Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal each singled in runs, before Howie Kendrick hit a towering three-run homer.

All this came against that famous ex-Dodgers playoff relief ace, Joe Beimel. A.J. Ellis added a two-run double and the Dodgers had what appeared a comfortable 8-3 lead.

But the bad was still to come for the Dodgers. Reliever J.P. Howell, who has missed time this spring with a sore groin, again was clobbered. And at this point he and Joel Peralta are considered the only absolute bullpen locks.

But Howell couldn’t get through the bottom of the inning, giving three runs back while giving up three hits and two walks. In just three spring outings, Howell now has an unsightly 16.88 earned-run average. The left-hander has two weeks to get it together before the season opener.

Hyun-Jin Ryu started for the Dodgers on Tuesday and went three so-so innings, allowing three runs, three hits and a walk. He struck out two.

Juan Nicasio pitched a scoreless fourth before Howell struggled. Pedro Baez followed with 1 1/3 innings, allowing one run on a solo homer from Carlos Peguero. Paco Rodriguez pitched a perfect seventh before the Dodgers ran into more relief trouble with David Aardsma.

Aardsma, who had not given up a run in his first three appearances, gave up two runs on three hits and a balk in the eighth to allow the Rangers to tie it at 9-9. That could not have helped his cause in the hotly contested battle to earn a bullpen spot.

The game tied, it was naturally time for the kids to deliver. Darwin Barney started it with a walk and was sacrificed to second on an Enrique Hernandez bunt. Kyle Jensen then delivered an RBI single, taking second on a throwing error by left-fielder Ryan Rua.

Corey Seager lined a single to right to score Jensen and give the Dodgers a brief two-run lead.

A leadoff walk and a Barney error quickly put the tying runs on in the bottom of the ninth with no outs. The Dodgers, who had been encouraged by their defense this spring, committed four errors Tuesday.

Left-hander Daniel Coulombe, a longshot to make the team, got Ryan Ludwick to fly to center and popped up Rua before walking Carlos Corporan to load the bases. He was replaced by Ramon Troncoso, the ex-Dodger now a Dodger anew.

But Troncoso gave up a game-tying single to Jorge Alfaro before getting the final out, leaving the Dodgers with their fifth tie of the spring, matching their all-time record.

Follow Steve Dilbeck on Twitter @stevedilbeck