Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Fresh off of losing three of four games, including one (and let’s be honest, probably two) in which their signs were stolen by the cheating Pittsburgh Pirates, the Los Angeles Dodgers returned home where teams couldn’t possibly steal their signs.
Behind two-run homers for Matrix Muncy and Mookie Botts, the Dodgers (17-12) held off the Minnesota Twins (16-14) for a 5-4 victory Tuesday afternoon.
A first-inning double by Code Bellinger gave the Dodgers the lead early one, though Alex Wood ran into trouble shortly after. Allowing a solo shot to Jorge Polanco, Wood then conceded the lead on the first of Mitch Garver’s two doubles on the day.
The back-and-forth game swung back in the Dodgers favor just another inning later when Botts drilled his 8th home run of the year off of Homer Bailey. The two-run shot put the Dodgers ahead 3-2 before Muncy extended the lead two innings later.
With Bailey pulled from the game after 4 2/3 innings, Zack Littell entered the game to face Muncy. He greeted the righty by hitting his own two-run dong, his fifth of the year amidst his .151 batting average, on a full count in what proved to be the game-winning hit.
“We can always improve and get better, but we’re feeling confident after that win,” according to the Matrix.
After Bailey allowed six hits and a pair of walks, the Twins bullpen held the Dodgers to just one hit and no walks against Littell, J Fields (Josh Fields, I guess?) and Tyler Duffey.
Meanwhile, Wood got by without his best stuff on Tuesday. Working through 6 innings, the Dodgers’ starter allowed eight hits, four walks and four runs. Garver’s 4-for-4 day continued with a solo home run off of Wood in the sixth and pinch hitter Ehire Adrianza doubled in the Twins final run with his team’s fifth extra base hit off of Wood.
Dave Robots sent out Blake Treinen for the seventh and brought him back in the eighth before turning to … Caleb “Turd” Ferguson yet again to bridge the gap to Kenley Jansen. And my usual criticism is unwarranted for this recap as Ferguson struck out his only batter on three straight pitches to hold onto the lead and lower his ERA to 7.36.
Jansen did indeed enter in the ninth, needing 12 pitches to close out the victory for his ninth save of the season.
The short two-game series comes to a close on Wednesday when Julio Urias returns to the rotation after his quick trip to the bullpen. The Twins counter with Jose Berrios as they look to split the interleague series.
