Twins 5, Dodgers 1: Kyle Farmer Vanquishes Dodger Stadium Curse

[Matt Braun]

The only way to beat the Dodgers: have their old players on your team. 

Image courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Bailey Ober: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (102 pitches, 65 strikes)
Home Run: Kyle Farmer (3)
Top 3 WPA: Bailey Ober (.259), Jovani Moran (.165), Kyle Farmer (.135)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Even the gruffest amongst us could not fault him if he did it. 

Clayton Kershaw lost his mother on Saturday. Suffering a painful Mother’s Day and coming to terms with life without one his most crucial supporters, Kershaw insisted on making his scheduled start, hopefully using baseball as the emotional crutch so many others before have done.

Heartless—and cruel—the Twins allowed no time for grievance: a leadoff double by Donovan Solano begat a Kyle Farmer single beyond the infield, plating a rare early run off the future Hall-of-Famer. 

And so the game stayed during its first act. Bailey Ober found similar challenges in his time on the mound—hits, general chicanery—while his command swayed in the gentle California breeze. Perhaps fortune or gumption aided him, but in any case, Ober was able to avoid the damaging blow Minnesota earned against their opponent. It wasn’t from a lack of trying by the Dodgers: they placed two runners on in the opening frame before flailing meekly to end the inning.

Things got crazier in the 4th, however; Max Muncy attempted to swipe home on a double steal; a wise Solano anticipated his move and promptly threw him out by many feet.

The Dodgers likely felt the need to press because the Twins again jumped on Kershaw. A walk and two singles added a second run to Minnesota’s total, with Willi Castro providing the clutch hit on a slicing single into left. 

Underpinning all the offense was a truly bizarre inability by Austin Barnes to throw the baseball to second base. The catcher has struggled with baserunners all season, and—despite their stagnant nature—the Twins pushed firmly on that pressure point at all times, leading to four total steals and a disengagement violation when Kershaw tried to save his backstop from embarrassment in the 4th.

The opportunity for small-ball shenanigans was great, and Minnesota embraced it fully in the 5th, earning a run off a walk, steal, groundout, hit by pitch, and safety squeeze bunt. 

And Ober held up his end of the bargain. A shaky opening to his start gave way to solid, effective, normal Bailey Ober proceedings; the big right-hander ended his night after six innings with one earned run to his name and more than a few warning track threats. 

The Twins could avoid it no longer, though, and the game shifted to a battle between the bullpens. Both exhausted after a nightmare game on Monday, the onerous was on Minnesota to defend the lead, placing their relief arms in a much more precarious position. Brock Stewart was the first hero, and he could only muster two outs after his 28 pitches last night. Jovani Moran then stepped up the mound, immediately walked Freddie Freeman on four pitches, and coaxed a soft fly out from Chris Taylor on the only strike he threw in the inning. The Twins needed six more outs. 

Yet, somehow, as if the forces surrounding the game joined together in one miraculous effort, Moran made it through a clean 8th inning, eliciting three outs with relative ease.

And the same forces grew from a quiet grin to a shining smile in the 9th, observing the Twins’ lost work from the previous night and realizing that a correction was in order: Farmer extended the lead with a relieving two-run shot just above the outfield wall. Dodgers fans left their seats in frustration.

It finally ended. Minnesota’s 18-year drought of winning at Dodgers’ stadium, Clayton Kershaw’s nearly two-year grip on winning on his home turf, and whatever demons have cursed Griffin Jax in 2023 all came to an end. 

Post-Game Interview

What’s Next?
The Twins and Dodgers will partake in a day game on Wednesday as Sonny Gray will face off opposite Dustin May. The game starts at 2:10 PM central time.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[VivaBomboRivera!]

Studly outings by Ober, Stewart, Moran and Jax to spell the rest of our bullpen. Meanwhile, the offense continues to generate runs that wears theirs down (159 pitches last night, 75 more tonight).  Looking forward to an intense series finale (and a win!) tomorrow. 

[UK Twin]

Bailey Ober - you just outdueled Clayton Kershaw in LA. Take. A. Bow. What a response to a really tough loss. I was honestly expecting LA to sweep this series so the fact we've won one and could easily have won the other game is really encouraging. 

Good to see Moran step up when we really needed him to. Still needs to work on his control, but he got 4 outs at the end of the day.

The FO deserve quite a lot of credit for acquiring Farmer and Taylor. They have really exceeded my expectations. And Farmer has had to recover from taking a fastball to the face! I've got huge respect for him for carrying on as if nothing happened.

[Althebum82]

Way to capture all of the unique aspects and angles of this game!  Ober continues to provide a terrific boost to the success of this team, and after knocking off one jinx against the Yankees this franchise has now seen a second historic jinx ended as well.

[Steven Trefz]

The Dodgers fans at the stadium didn’t know what to think.  A season ticket holder said in June that a few of those left field warning track shots of the Dodgers would have been gone. But we played small ball, and got the win.

Hoping the ramp up in Buxton running also is a sign that we are ramping up his return to center field. Levine said last Wednesday at a season ticket holder event that they can’t just put him out there without some intentional practice and workouts…but with Royce, Julien and Miranda waiting in the wings we need that DH spot back.

Great game, let’s win this series!

[UK Twin]

10 minutes ago, Althebum82 said:

Way to capture all of the unique aspects and angles of this game!  Ober continues to provide a terrific boost to the success of this team, and after knocking off one jinx against the Yankees this franchise has now seen a second historic jinx ended as well.

Just the biggest jinx of them all to go now!

[USAFChief]

Pretty good sign that Bailey can come out clearly fighting it and still give us 6 IP 1 run against a good lineup.

That was impressive, to me at least. 

[Rik19753]

6 minutes ago, UK Twin said:

The FO deserve quite a lot of credit for acquiring Farmer and Taylor. They have really exceeded my expectations. And Farmer has had to recover from taking a fastball to the face! I've got huge respect for him for carrying on as if nothing happened.

The offseason additions, which seemed uninspiring before the season, has really carried the team. Besides the two that you mentioned, I can pretty much find a positive for every player they added.

Joey Gallo: His tremendous power, and solid on-base skills have been crucial given the early season offensive struggles. He provides good defense as well.

Christian Vazquez: Offense hasn't been great, but the I think we can attribute at least a part of the resurgent pitching performance to his game calling behind the plate.

Willi Castro: Wasn't impressed by him at the beginning of the season, but he seems to do a lot of things well that don't show up on the stat sheet. He's played every position besides 1st and C and has 3 DRS (defensive runs saved) according to Fangraphs. He seems to run the bases well (4 steals) and hits the ball decently hard. His defensive flexibility has definitely allowed Rocco to be more aggressive with in-game substitutions.

Pablo Lopez: Hasn't been great recently, but the upside is clearly there and he is at worst a decent No.2.

Brock Stewart: He looks a lot like Pagan from last year, but without the HRs. As long as he keeps the ball in the ballpark I think he's can be at least a mid-level reliever, which we sorely need with Alcala struggling and Thielbar injured.

 

Kudos to the FO for seeing the value in these players. They were exactly the types of additions we needed to shore up our depth.

[UK Twin]

On another note, I noticed that "sticky-fingers" German finally got his comeuppance - 4 weeks too late. Interesting that Hoye was umpiring when he was ejected AND in the game against the Twins when he wasn't. 

[awmonahan]

That is a huge outing by Ober, after burning through the bullpen in a loss the night before.

[Peter]

Ober/farmer and Moran were clutch!!!  4th and 7th innings were turning points of game! Huge win !!! Let’s win series!

[Doctor Wu]

4 hours ago, UK Twin said:

The FO deserve quite a lot of credit for acquiring Farmer and Taylor. They have really exceeded my expectations. And Farmer has had to recover from taking a fastball to the face! I've got huge respect for him for carrying on as if nothing happened.

Totally agree with that. Like many on this board, I was a bit underwhelmed by the trade for Farmer. But man, he has shown a lot game and grit, and some timely hits. Glad to have both him and Taylor with the team!

[Doctor Wu]

Loved that squeeze bunt by Jeffers to score Buxton. Just shows that there are all sorts of creative ways to score runs when you need to. 

[UK Twin]

4 minutes ago, Doctor Wu said:

Loved that squeeze bunt by Jeffers to score Buxton. Just shows that there are all sorts of creative ways to score runs when you need to. 

Nothing causes the fielding side more panic than a well executed bunt, especially in extra innings (hey, White Sox). 

[Nashvilletwin]

17 minutes ago, Doctor Wu said:

Totally agree with that. Like many on this board, I was a bit underwhelmed by the trade for Farmer. But man, he has shown a lot game and grit, and some timely hits. Glad to have both him and Taylor with the team!

Nobody disagrees, but we must remember that Farmer was acquired to essentially be our everyday SS before we (re)signed CC. If CC had signed first, it is unlikely Farmer would be a Twin - so we lucked into that a bit, which is nice.

Farmer is 100% a professional ballplayer. The FO was correct to target him and he’s having a big influence on this team I think in ways beyond his performance on the field.  

[bighat]

Color me shocked - a convincing win against LAD with timely two-out hitting and safety squeezes? What team are we watching? Great performance by Ober, really nice win. 

Please Rocco, let's go for the jugular today! 

Correa 1-for-5 and now batting .201 as we rapidly approach June 1st. 

[mikelink45]

That was fun, and LA has not been fun.  Today's match with Gray and May sounds like a pitchers duel so it will probably be 10 - 9.  But still I look forward to it.  I am so pleased with Ober.  He is definitely a permanent part of the Rotation now which really reduces the Mahle stress.  

[CRF]

When I saw that Solano and Castro were in the lineup, against Kershaw, I thought we were dunzo. I was wrong. They held their own and Ober was very good. Great win! I'd LOVE to win the finale today! 

[jmlease1]

Early in the game I was thinking "here we go again" when Buxton got rung up on a curveball that never entered any part of the zone and you had to wonder if Kershaw was going to get the marginal pitches and Ober wasn't. (and to be fair, Kershaw was closer to the zone more often than Ober early) but the Twins hitters stuck with the game plan and made Kershaw really work. Ober looked wobbly in the first and then really settled down to contain a tough lineup with 6 very good innings.

Very nice win. Here's hoping they pull off the win this afternoon and take the series.

[tony&rodney]

Ober was so focused last night and put on quite a pitching display last night. The pitchers have been keeping the Twins around in most every game. Moran showed again why he deserves his roster spot. Yes, he wobbles with his control but hitters struggle against his pitches.

The Twins have been having good at bats more consistently and making the opposing hurlers work hard. Kershaw needed 90 pitches to complete four innings. 

The base running and situational hitting has improved dramatically from last year. When was the last time the Twins had four stolen bases and really another when Kershaw threw to first base three times. That was a real display of professionalism by Kershaw, knowing his catcher has arm issues right now. Bunting and running are good options to use and it is encouraging to see the Twins use every strategy possible to score runs.

Correa has struggled to bring in runners in some important at bats but is also running into a little hard luck. One thing not to be overlooked is how often Correa is involved in a difficult play that results in an out. His play at shortstop this year has been absolutely terrific.

[umterp23]

Farmer a really good story for the Twins this year.  I know people are clamoring for Lewis to take 3rd in June, but if Farmer keeps playing the way he is, why bump him off the bag?  Castro under the radar type of contributor and Solano has his moments.  Do we try and trade Gordon for minor league prospect if we bring Lewis up?  Tough decision and but nice to have to make one vs a necessity move because guys aren't worthy.

[William K Johnson]

The best at bat Farmer had all night was the grounder to the right side that moved Buxton from second to third setting up Jeffers bunt.   We scored without a hit.   That is how you win games.    The more I see of Farmer the more I appreciate the fact that he is a very good baseball player with a great feel and knowledge of the game.

[MplsFan]

I get that Ober and Farmer will get the majority of the kudos for last night and deservedly so.  However, I thought the unsung heroes were:

1. Solano.  His double to lead off the game set the tone that Kershaw is human.

2. Castro.  Two hits- I believe both off Kershaw.

3. Moran.  I’ll admit I groaned when I saw him coming in, but to get 4 outs- and against the guys he did it against, was huge

[stringer bell]

Some stats to highlight--.231 team BA ranks 25th in MLB. 15 SB rank next to last, however team OPS is 15th and in runs per game the Twins rank 10th. They are going to win a lot of games if they score 5 runs or more, as they have in the last four games. 

Willi Castro may or may not be on the roster all season, but he has demonstrated the ability to play all over (he made a couple of nice plays at second yesterday) and get an occasional hit from either side of the plate. In addition, he can steal a base (4 steals and should be 5). 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

6 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Pretty good sign that Bailey can come out clearly fighting it and still give us 6 IP 1 run against a good lineup.

That was impressive, to me T least. 

Buck said Bailey was a "Bulldog". I agree. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

I really like Correa's skip throw to 1B for an out. Trevor Plouffe said that an infielder does not lose any time using a skip throw to 1B. Trevor said he practiced it and timed it. It makes sense, because a skip throw is low, allowing the first baseman to stretch to the max to receive the throw low. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and in order for the first baseman to stretch to the max, the throw must be low.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Outstanding article Matt. Your writing is superb. 

[LastOnePicked]

6 hours ago, UK Twin said:

The FO deserve quite a lot of credit for acquiring Farmer and Taylor. They have really exceeded my expectations. And Farmer has had to recover from taking a fastball to the face! I've got huge respect for him for carrying on as if nothing happened.

I agree with every bit of this. I'm often more skeptical (and more grumpy) than most, but credit where credit is due. These were excellent moves for veterans with grit, guts and skills.

[arby58]

6 hours ago, UK Twin said:

The FO deserve quite a lot of credit for acquiring Farmer and Taylor. They have really exceeded my expectations. And Farmer has had to recover from taking a fastball to the face! I've got huge respect for him for carrying on as if nothing happened.

The front office gets dumped on a lot, but the depth they added has been really important. Add Solano to that list - his fielding is sometimes an 'adventure' but he is as good as advertised against left handed pitching. Also the pickup of Stewart is looking like a really good move - the guy has been far more than could have been asked since coming over from St. Paul.

[Jkeady12]

Just a great performance all around, quite a few heroes. However literally the most exciting thing of the game was seeing Buxton run. When Byron is allowed to be a difference maker on the bases it is an entirely different team. Just imagine if/when he gets the green light to play center!!