Don Mattingly figured the hitting would come around, and the Los Angeles Dodgers sure looked all right on Tuesday.
Juan Uribe had three RBIs and the Dodgers finished with 13 hits in a 7-6 victory over the Texas Rangers.
Andre Ethier and Ivan De Jesus had two hits apiece for Los Angeles, which entered with a major league-worst .239 spring batting average.
"We pretty much led the league in hitting in '09," said Mattingly, the Dodgers' first-year manager and former hitting coach, also noting the lineup produced in the first half of last season, too.
"They're pretty much the same guys."
David Murphy had three hits and two RBIs for Texas. Derek Holland gave up four runs and seven hits in four innings.
"It could have been worse for Derek," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "When Derek got in trouble, he pitched pretty well to get out of it. But they have some pretty good hitters they sent up today.
"They made him work a little bit and did good things with the bat."
Clayton Kershaw, who is scheduled to start on opening day for Los Angeles, struggled in his fourth spring start. He allowed six runs, five earned, and 11 hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Kershaw said he didn't notice anything different in his performance, "except I gave up a lot of hits. I was throwing strikes. I got hit hard today. I don't know why."
Julio Borbon, Andres Blanco and Mike Napoli had two hits apiece for Texas, which entered with a .300 spring batting average.
"We've been swinging the bats well," Washington said. "Kershaw is a tough cookie. We battled him. They tried to push him to six innings. Maybe he ran out of gas. That's what you get in spring training."
NOTES: Casey Blake's MRI on his troublesome back showed inflammation, but no oblique strain. He likely will return to action soon. ... Dodger pitcher Hiroki Kuroda announced he will donate $50,000 toward the relief efforts in Japan. He spoke to his teammates Tuesday, encouraging them to join the effort. ... The Rangers optioned RHP Yoshinori Tateyama to Triple-A Round Rock and LHP Miguel De Los Santos to Double-A Frisco.
