The Los Angeles Dodgers battled in a wild game against the Minnesota Twins to earn their sixth consecutive victory overall and 10th straight at Dodger Stadium with the help of some clutch hitting by the offense and a masterful performance from Phil Bickford.
The Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead early when Will Smith blasted his seventh long ball of the season, which drove in Freddie Freeman. Max Muncy then followed with his 13th of the year, giving the Dodgers back-to-back homers for the fourth time this season.
Former Dodger Kyle Farmer singled in the second inning to drive in Jorge Polanco, but in the third, the Dodgers added to their lead again when Muncy homered with Smith on base to put L.A. up 5-1. It was Muncy’s 13th career multi-homer game and fourth this season, and it additionally gave him the MLB lead with 14 dingers.
The Twins added one more run in the fourth to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2, and that score remained until the seventh when a run scored on a wild pitch by Caleb Ferguson. But the Dodgers were able to add that run back when Freeman doubled to drive in Mookie Betts, making the score 6-3.
Will and Max back-to-back? Twinning. pic.twitter.com/fykZqMobMs
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 16, 2023
Max Muncy, your MLB home run leader. pic.twitter.com/ySmxHqIO68
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 16, 2023
David clutch! 🚂 pic.twitter.com/NtFynzlPI8
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 16, 2023
TIE GAME. pic.twitter.com/uxGgqZurWY
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 16, 2023
GAME. pic.twitter.com/ejXnKtVBMj
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 16, 2023
Victory formation!
Dodgers x @Yaamava pic.twitter.com/zhn21cnGeS
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 16, 2023
The Twins tied the game in the eighth when Trevor Larnach hit a three-run homer against Yency Almonte, but the Dodgers came back in the bottom half of the inning when Miguel Vargas and David Peralta hit back-to-back doubles to give L.A. a 7-6 lead.
Byron Buxton tied the game against Evan Phillips in the ninth and it went into extra innings, where the Twins jumped out to an 8-7 lead. With one out in the 10th, J.D. Martinez singled to tie the game.
In the 12th, the Twins intentionally walked Freeman, and later gave Muncy a free pass as well, which loaded the bases for Trayce Thompson, who entered the game as a pinch-runner for Martinez.
Thompson fell behind 1-2 but battled back to make the count full. On the 3-2 offering, Thompson took a fastball up and in, which gave the Dodgers their third walk of the inning and a shrimp to win the game, 9-8.
Bickford’s marvelous outing key to Dodgers win
Noah Syndergaard started for the Dodgers but only pitched four innings as he has been dealing with a blister on his right index finger. That required the Dodgers to use five more pitchers to get the game to extra innings, and with the team hoping to avoid using Brusdar Graterol and Victor González, that left Bickfod as the lone option.
The right-hander delivered, throwing three innings while giving up just one unearned run and one hit while striking out four and walking four. Bickford set a career high with 48 pitches to earn the win while allowing the Dodgers to stay away from Graterol, who began to warm up before the walk-off walk.
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