Dodgers’ Zack Greinke, a pessimist, isn’t thinking about his first start.

Wearing the same stoic expression he used to retire six of the seven batters he faced Sunday, Zack Greinke explained his approach toward spring training games in the Dodgers’ clubhouse. Zack Greinke

“I try to not pay any attention to the results,” Greinke said. “If you’re getting hit pretty hard then you have to think about it a little bit. I don’t take anything positive from it. I guess you only take the negative out, for the most part.”

It seems Greinke won’t spend much time thinking about his first appearance in a Dodgers uniform. He threw two scoreless innings that followed the script almost perfectly. Greinke tossed 11 pitches, all for strikes.

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Hyun-Jin Ryu reflects on his Dodgers debut.

Hyun-Jin Ryu’s clubhouse demeanor after his first appearance in a Dodgers uniform was much the same as it was before: Even-keeled with a dose of humor.

Ryu threw a scoreless third inning against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch. He got Blake Tekotte to ground out on a ball hit slowly back to the mound. He struck out Gordon Beckham on a changeup. He allowed a triple to DeWayne Wise that sliced into the right-field corner, then got Jeff Keppinger to fly out to left field to end the inning.

“My goal honestly was not to walk anybody today,” Ryu said. “I guess I succeeded.”

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For now, Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez has timing, confidence.

Hanley Ramirez

Maybe Hanley Ramirez was right when he said that getting game experience at shortstop in the Winter League isn’t as valuable as practicing before the game begins.

Ramirez got a chance to validate his self-confidence in the second inning Saturday. The first batter, Dayan Viciedo, hit a ground ball up the middle. Ramirez ranged to his left, fielded the ball cleanly, then spun and threw Viciedo out.

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If Dodgers pitcher Matt Magill had butterflies in his stomach Saturday, they didn’t show.

Matt Magill had never pitched in a spring training game before Saturday, but you wouldn’t have known that by the results: Matt Magill headHe and non-roster invitee Mark Lowe were the only two pitchers that didn’t allow a run in the Dodgers’ 9-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Magill entered the game with two outs in the seventh inning. He quickly surrendered an infield single when shortstop Dee Gordon couldn’t pick a hard grounder off his backhand, allowing a run to score (it was charged to Kelvin De La Cruz). Magill then struck out the next three batters he faced and induced a fly ball to end the eighth inning — the only 1-2-3 inning defensively for the Dodgers.

That doesn’t always mean much in spring training, but it was a good sign that Magill was calm. For the 23-year-old from Simi Valley, that was one of two keys.

“Just go out and work on my fastball command,” he said, “and work on not getting too hyped up for the first big-league experience.”

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Clayton Kershaw allows two runs in two innings in spring training debut.

Clayton Kershaw

In one sense, Clayton Kershaw seemed like the same pitcher who has won back-to-back National League ERA titles on Saturday: He was his own harshest critic.

Kershaw allowed four hits, including an Armando Rios double, and two earned runs in his two-inning Cactus League debut. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, it set the tone in a 9-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
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White Sox 3, Dodgers 1.

Aaron Harang threw six strong innings, but the White Sox (11-15) prevailed against the Dodgers (12-11-4) before an announced crowd of 5,091 at Camelback Ranch. [box score]

Harang allowed six hits — all singles — walked one, and struck out six in six innings. Three of those singles came in the fifth inning, allowing Chicago to score its only run against the 6-foot-7 right-hander. Harang threw 104 pitches, 66 for strikes, and left with the score tied 1-1. In his last two starts, spanning 11 innings, he has allowed two runs and 11 hits.

Reliever Josh Lindblom allowed a solo home run to Trayce Thompson in the seventh inning and Scott Rice served up an RBI single to Adam Dunn in the eighth.

The Dodgers got their only run when Josh Fields singled and came around to score on an A.J. Ellis sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.

Two days after bunting a ball into his groin, Juan Uribe went 2-for-3. Juan Rivera doubled and a single by Ellis accounted for the Dodgers’ fifth hit of the game.

A few more notes:

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Dodgers 4, White Sox 3.

Jerry Sands‘ walk-off single drove in pinch-runner Elian Herrera in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Dodgers (11-8-4) to the win before 5,816 at Camelback Ranch. [box score]

Sands’ single was just his sixth hit in 38 Cactus League at-bats, and it came at a critical time as the roster is trimmed in advance of opening day.

“I’ve been feeling pretty brutal just trying to work on some things,” Sands said. “Changes here and there, just trying to get comfortable now after making some changes, all kinds of stuff. Just trying to get rhythm and timing after making changes is the hardest thing.

With two strikes against him, Sands lined a single into left field that Kosuke Fukudome could not field cleanly, allowing Herrera to score easily from second base. It was only the sixth hit by the Dodgers all afternoon, as starter Chad Billingsley allowed 11 hits in his 5 2/3 innings of work.

All of those hits were singles, however, and Chicago left nine runners on base. Billingsley also walked two and struck out five.

Dee Gordon stole two bases, giving him a major league-leading 10 this spring. Andre Ethier‘s fifth-inning double was his eighth, tying him for the major league lead with a pair of luminaries, Lorenzo Cain and Matt Carpenter.

A few more notes:

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Dodgers 5, Cubs 0.

Ted Lilly (1-1) threw three shutout innings and a four-run second inning lifted the Dodgers to their second shutout victory in three days before an announced crowd of 10,380 at Camelback Ranch. [box score]

Lilly allowed one hit, a single, and walked one in his second appearance of the spring.

“I treated this game more like a regular-season game. The only pitch I didn’t throw much or well is my slider,” Lilly said, adding that the slider was “ineffective” against his former team.

The Dodgers needed only seven hits. Two came off the bat of Trent Oeltjen, including a hustle double on a routine grounder up the middle that made Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd look lazy. Matt Guerrier, Todd Coffey, Mike MacDougal, John Grabow, Alberto Castillo and Will Savage all threw scoreless innings out of the bullpen. None has allowed a run so far this spring.

Guerrier made it interesting by loading the bases in the fourth inning on three walks, but he got out of his own jam. After the game, manager Don Mattingly had nothing but praise for Guerrier: “Last year [the movement on his pitches] looked more side to side. This year it’s late,” Mattingly said.

As for the team’s 4-1-2 Cactus League record?

“Last year I’m saying that they don’t really matter and we’re losing,” the manager said, “and it’s the same this year.”

A few more notes:
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Dodgers 10, White Sox 6.

The Dodgers concluded a long day of baseball with a ninth-inning rally against the Chicago White Sox before an announced crowd of 8,310 at Camelback Ranch on Saturday. [box score]

Cory Sullivan’s grand slam — his first home run of the spring –capped the comeback win for the Dodgers (4-1-2), who trailed 6-5 after the White Sox scored the go-ahead run off Michael Antonini in the eighth inning.

The game began at 7:05 p.m. local time and ended three hours and 39 minutes later (the Dodgers’ two games Saturday lasted a combined 6 hours and 16 minutes). Players and coaches get to report bright and early tomorrow for a 12 p.m. game against the Cubs –they had played no earlier than 1 p.m. local time through the first week.

With the teams even at 5-5, Antonini surrendered an RBI double to Ray Olmedo in the bottom of the eighth inning. But Ivan DeJesus scored from third base on a wild pitch to tie the game at 6 in the top of the ninth. That merely set the stage for Sullivan’s dramatic grand slam.

Chad Billingsley struggled in his second Cactus League start, allowing six hits and three runs –all earned –in 2 1/3 innings. His line would’ve looked better if Josh Lindblom had not allowed a three-run homer to Tyler Flowers, the first batter he faced out of the bullpen. Both runners belonged to Billingsley.

“I struggled a little bit early just finding my rhythm,” he said, “but overall I was pretty happy. My curveball was sharp. I threw some changeups, my fastball was missing a little down and off the plate but that’ll come.”

While Nate Eovaldi threw three innings earlier in the day, Billingsley appeared to get a quick hook, but that wasn’t necessarily the case. He said he was given a pitch count in the 50-60 range, not an innings quota (Billingsley threw 53 pitches).

Juan Rivera and Jerry Hairston Jr. hit home runs. One day after his minor heart scare, Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Through seven, Dodgers up 3-1

This one is just flying by, with seven innings complete in about an hour and forty minutes. Only five hits in the game, and the scoring stopped after the second.

The Dodgers put together back-to-back doubles in the first to score their first run, and James Loney hit a two-run homer in the second to cap the scoring at 3.

Hiroki Kuroda is in the midst of one of his masterful performances, it seems. He’s allowed only two baserunners in seven innings pitched. His only blemish is a Paul Konerko solo shot in the second.