Dodgers @ Twins June 22, 2026: Klein opens for Lauer as the Dodgers look to bounce back from rough weekend, Brock Stewart returns from the IL

The Dodgers (49-29) dropped both games over the weekend against the Orioles, losing a close game on Saturday before getting rocked in a 12-1 loss on Sunday. It spoiled a strong week against AL East opponents, as they won the first four games of the homestand winning each game by one run before a one-run loss and an 11 run loss. Emmet Sheehan continued his struggles with his worst start of the season and the Dodger offense got shut down by a not-great Oriole pitching staff.

Today, they begin a nine-game road trip with three in Minnesota against the Twins. Minnesota is 38-41 this season, which currently has them in third in the AL Central 3.5 games back of Cleveland. The Twins have been very streaky in 2026, with four four-game win streaks and three four-game losing streaks so far this season. April was really strange for them, as they won eight of nine from April 6-14 and then immediately lost nine of 10 from the 15th-26th. They were a season-worst eight games under .500 entering last Sunday, but have won six of seven coming into this series. Byron Buxton‘s been healthy for most of the season and thus is putting together an MVP-caliber season with a .925 OPS and the third-most homers in baseball (24, only behind Kyle Schwarber and Yordan Alvarez in 30ish fewer plate appearances than each of them). Royce Lewis had an abysmal start to the season and got demoted in mid-May, but has a .900 OPS in 14 games since returning to the Majors. On the pitching side of things, the Twins have the fourth-worst team ERA in baseball (4.79), with most of that being due to the bullpen. Their rotation has a 4.49 ERA which is 19th in baseball but their 5.22 bullpen ERA is the worst in baseball, worse than the bullpens that pitch in a Minor League park and at Coors. They do seem to have found something in the back end of the pen in Yoendrys Gomez, who has a 1.37 ERA and 0.966 WHIP in 19 2/3 innings.

	4:40 P.M.		Minnesota
DH	Ohtani (L)	LF	Larnach (L)
CF	Pages	CF	Buxton
1B	Freeman (L)	RF	Clemens (L)
SS	Betts	DH	Bell (S)
3B	Muncy (L)	1B	Lewis
RF	Tucker (L)	C	Caratini (S)
2B	Edman (S)	3B	Lee (S)
C	Rushing (L)	2B	Keaschall
LF	Ward (L)	SS	Kreidler
P	Klein (R)	P	Matthews (R)

Eric Lauer gets the ball in a bulk role for the Dodgers coming off his worst start as a Dodger against the Rays. He still recorded a quality start, allowing three runs on six hits in six innings. It was a bit more of the same for Lauer, who struggled early before settling down to give the Dodgers some length. He gave up a two-run homer in the first and got Ray’d in the second, giving up a run on a single, walk and two bunts. The Dodgers tied the game in the bottom of the second on a three-run Kyle Tucker homer, and he kept the Rays off the board to keep the Dodgers in position for late-inning heroics. Lauer’s allowed eight runs as a Dodger, only two of which came after the second inning. This might be a factor in why he’s not starting this game, Will Klein is. Klein last pitched on Friday against Baltimore and only threw 37 pitches in three games last week.

The Dodgers have won each of Lauer’s four starts after Toronto only won two of his eight starts before they DFA’d him. One of those starts did come against the Twins and it was his worst start of the season. The Twins tagged him for seven runs on five hits and five walks in 5 1/3 innings. All the damage came in the third where Lauer allowed three singles, two walks and homers to Brooks Lee and Trevor Larnach.

Zebby Matthews makes his eighth start of the season for the Twins. It’s been an inconsistent ride for Matthews, who has a 4.78 ERA in 43 1/3 innings. Matthews started his season extremely strong, allowing five runs in 19 innings over his first three starts. In his four starts since, he’s alternated allowing two runs or seven runs. He allowed seven in Pittsburgh on May 31 before allowing two runs against the Royals on June 5. He then gave up seven runs in Detroit, but held the Rangers to two runs over seven innings last time out. Clearly, he’s due for his seven run start tonight. Obviously very small sample sizes, but most of those struggles have come away from Target Field. He has a 1.80 ERA and allowed a .553 OPS in his three home starts, but has a 7.33 ERA and .893 OPS against in his five road starts. This is an outlier from his career norms, as he has a 5.65 ERA at home and 5.58 ERA on the road in 32 total career starts. This is Matthews’ first time facing the Dodgers and has never faced any current Dodgers in his career.

Matthews has a whole lot of blue on his Savant Page, but has done a very good job limiting walks this season. He’s only issued nine walks in seven starts and four of those came in one start in Kansas City. Matthews throws a fastball (36.6 percent), slider (21.1 percent), curve (14 percent), change (13.5 percent), cutter (10.9 percent) and sinker (4 percent). His slider and curve have actually been pretty dominant this season. Batters are hitting .176 with a .314 slugging off the slider (expected numbers .190 and .386) and .133 with a .333 slugging off the curve (expected numbers .146 and .282). He has a 40.3 percent whiff rate with the slider and 35.1 with the curve.

Tommy Edman gets the start at second today, hitting seventh. Ryan Ward starts in left and hits ninth.

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Brock Stewart is back off the IL, taking Chayce McDermott‘s roster spot.

The Dodgers announce they’ve reinstated RHP Brock Stewart from the injured list and optioned RHP Chayce McDermott.

— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) June 22, 2026

Stewart allowed a run and four hits in four innings over four rehab outings with Single-A Ontario, striking out five without issuing a walk. He topped out at 19 pitches and went back-to-back on June 18 and 19, needing only seven pitches for three outs in his final rehab outing on Friday. Stewart started the season injured before making two relief appearances with the Dodgers and hitting the IL with a bone spur in his foot. McDermott got the seventh inning in yesterday’s blowout loss against the Orioles and allowed a triple and a homer.

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First pitch is scheduled for 4:40 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.