The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched a series win against the Minnesota Twins with a 6-3 victory backed by an electric performance from Tyler Glasnow while James Outman and Will Smith provided the offense.
Glasnow made his fourth start of the season, and it proved to be his best. The 30-year-old pitched seven innings while giving up no runs on just three hits with no walks.
But perhaps the most impressive part of his outing was the strikeout total as he racked up 14 of them. The 14 strikeouts tied a career-high for Glasnow, which he previously achieved twice — once in 2021 and again in 2023.
The right-hander went on a run of six consecutive strikeouts from the third through fifth inning, which included striking out the side in the fourth. Glasnow also recorded 21 swing and misses and 21 called strikes during the night.
Up until the seventh inning, Austin Martin was the only Twins player to record a hit, and Byron Buxton added their third on a broken bat single.
All the Dodgers’ offense came in back-to-back innings, starting in the fourth.
Smith and Teoscar Hernández singled to set the table, and Outman hit his second home run in as many days to put the Dodgers up 3-0. Outman also singled earlier in the game as he looks to be heating up following some early season struggles.
In the fifth inning, Mookie Betts walked and Freddie Freeman singled to put two on for Smith. The catcher then doubled the Dodgers’ lead with their second three-run homer of the game, putting them up 6-0.
With that lead and Glasnow cooking on the mound, the Dodgers increased their win probability to 96%.
Alex Vesia took over for Glasnow in the 8th and struck out the 15th hitter of the game, but he also allowed a home run to Ryan Jeffers to break the shutout.
Connor Brogdon pitched the ninth in his Dodgers debut, and he was immediately greeted by a long home run from Carlos Correa. That was followed by another long homer from Alex Kirilloff to cut the Dodgers’ lead to three runs.
Brogdon ended up recording the final three outs regadless of the early struggles in the inning.
Dodgers history of 14 strikeout games
Glasnow became the first Dodgers pitcher with at least 14 strikeouts in a game since Walker Buehler struck out 15 San Diego Padres on August 3, 2019.
It was also the 11th time a Dodgers pitcher has struck out 14 or more since 2000. Buehler did it twice, Clayton Kershaw had six such games, while Brad Penny and Chan Ho Park each had one as well.
Other pitchers in Dodgers history to accomplish the feat include Hideo Nomo, Orel Hershiser, Fernando Valenzuela, Sandy Koufax, Bill Singer and Ramon Martinez.
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