The Dodgers scored early and often to beat the Minnesota Twins 12-3, picking up a second victory in as many days at Target Field in Minneapolis.
After the start of the game was delayed 28 minutes, the first two Dodgers hitters were walking in the rain against rookie reliever Kendry Rojas. Two outs later, Tommy Edman pushed a single off the glove of second baseman Luke Keaschall for the game’s first run, the third straight game the Dodgers have scored in the first inning.
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Rojas was the opener for the Twins bullpen and needed 50 pitches to get through his two innings, only half of them for strikes, with three total walks. But the Dodgers scored just once off of him.
Justin Wrobleski was much more economical, keeping with his theme this season, including three flyouts to right field in a perfect first inning — 9, 9, 9 in your scorecard — on just nine pitches.
Minnesota evened things up in a second inning reminiscent of Monday night’s game, with a solo home run, this one by catcher Victor Caratini.
The Dodgers tapped the Edman-to-Keaschall pipeline for another run in the third, on an easy-peasy would-be inning-ending groundout, but Keaschall’s underhand toss toward first base was way offline, allowing Freddie Freeman to scamper home with a gift run after his 18th double of the season.
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Call and response continued with Mookie Betts make an error of his own to open the bottom of the third. Byron Buxton nearly cashed it in with a double to the left center field gap, but Andy Pages cut the ball off quickly then started an 8-6-2 putout with Betts that erased Austin Martin at the plate.
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Pages has eight outfield assists this season, most in the majors. This one briefly kept the Dodgers ahead, but Josh Bell quickly singled home Buxton to keep the back-and-forth going.
First things first
Three runs in the fourth inning broke the game open, thanks to five singles — three with two outs — and a sacrifice fly off Austin Voth. The second of those five singles was by Chuckie Robinson, forced into a heavier workload with Will Smith on the injured list and Dalton Rushing exiting Monday to enter concussion protocol. The single was Robinson’s first time reaching base in 16 plate appearances as a Dodger over the last two seasons, and the first major league hit for the 31-year-old since September 21, 2024 while with the Chicago White Sox (off then-Padre Tanner Scott).
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For good measure, Robinson singled again in the fifth for the second two-hit game of his career. He also had two hits, including a home run as a Cincinnati Reds rookie on October 4, 2022. Robinson even added a squeeze bunt in the seventh inning for his first major league RBI since that 2022 game.
Wrobleski, who nearly allowed three more runs of his own in the third inning on a Brooks Lee drive with home run distance but maybe a few feet foul down the left field line. Lee, who bat-flipped that near-home run, instead flew out later in the at-bat to end the frame and strand a pair of runners on base.
Staked to a three-run lead, Wrobleski retired 10 his final 12 batters faced, and threw 92 pitches in his seven innings, the fifth time he’s pitched at least that long this season. Ten of his 13 starts have lasted at least six frames.
Five runs in the ninth inning doubled the Dodgers’ lead, an inning that saw Alex Call’s first home run of the season and a two-run double by Max Muncy.
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Notes
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Austin Voth was the second Twins pitcher of the game and took the brunt of the damage, allowing six runs while recording 12 outs. His 11 hits allowed tied Mike Mikolas on April 3 in Washington D.C. for most Dodgers hits against one pitcher in a game this season.
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The Dodgers have won 18 of their last 21 games against the Twins, dating back to 2014, including 9-1 at Target Field during that span.
Tuesday particulars
Home run: Alex Call (1); Victor Caratini (6), Brooks Lee (13)
WP — Justin Wrobleski (9-2): 7 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts
LP — Austin Voth (0-1): 4+ IP, 11 hits, 6 runs (5 earned), 1 walk, 2 strikeouts
Up next
The Dodgers go for the sweep in the series finale (4:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA), with Shohei Ohtani making his seventh consecutive Wednesday pitching start, against Twins ace Joe Ryan.
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