Dodgers: 4, Twins 3: Betts's Glove Even Bests Betts's Bat, and Both Beat Bomba Boys

[Sherry Cerny]

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan - 6 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 9 K (98 pitches, 64 strikes)
Home Runs: -0- 
Bottom 3 WPA: Byron Buxton (-0.26); Ryan Kriedler (-0.19); Josh Bell (-0.12)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

 

Interleague Showdown
The Dodgers looked far better than the Twins in the first two games of the teams' showdown at Target Field this week, but for the finale, the home side sent their ace to the mound. Joe Ryan got another summertime spotlight, as he dueled with starting pitcher/slugger Shohei Ohtani. It was Minnesota's best hope of stealing a win from the reigning champs.

Ryan’s first hitter was Ohtani, and his first out was Ohtani. Ryan expressed frustration in his last outing, which was cut short in the fifth at 96 pitches, so in the final game against the Dodgers, the goal was to keep the pitches low and the strikes high. In his first inning, he threw only 13 pitches. 

In the second, however, Ryan allowed his scheduled “oopsie” home run of the game, to Mookie Betts. In a way, it was an honor: Ryan gave Betts his 300th career homer. It continued a frustrating pattern, though, whereby Ryan will sometimes execute exceptionally badly in a deep count—seemingly because he's trying too hard to be perfect. Here, a high fastball flattened out badly on him and begged Betts to sock it.

The Twins played small ball in the second inning, chipping away at Ohtani and his battery mate Dalton Rushing. They loaded the bases with only one out, and the trainer for the Dodgers came out to check on Ohtani, but the unicorn stayed in the game.

A passed ball by Rushing allowed Victor Caratini to score, tying the game at 1-1. After a mound visit got Ohtani back on the plate and Rushing back to knowing what was coming, Ryan Kreidler delivered the big hit of the inning, lining a single into center field that brought home both Brooks Lee and Tristan Gray. Kreidler was thrown out attempting to stretch the hit into a double, but not before driving in two runs and giving Minnesota the lead for the first time in the series, 3-1. 

Alas, in the top of the third, the Dodgers answered back right away on a double from Alex Freeland, followed by a single from Ohtani, bringing Freeland home to bring the score 3-2. With Betts on deck, Ryan issued a walk to Freddie Freeman. Freeman is a tough out, of course, but the free pass proved costly, as Betts singled to load the bases and Max Muncy and Alex Call each drove home a run, restoring the Dodgers to the high side at 4-3.

Ryan and Ohtani had a true pitching battle for the next two innings, with neither allowing a run to come in. Minnesota nearly broke through in the fourth, though. Kreidler made a bid for a second two-run single on a grounder, but Betts made a truly marvelous play to retire him and pull Ohtani out of the fire.

Ryan retired at the end of the sixth, relieved by Anthony Banda to start the seventh inning. Banda allowed a few runners, but shut down the inning on a nasty slider to Muncy. 

The Twins' next good chance came in the bottom of that same inning. Brooks Lee walked, then stole second during a long at-bat by Trevor Larnach. Eventually, Larnach walked, too, bringing Byron Buxton to the plate with the go-ahead run at first base and the tying tally in scoring position. Dodgers changeup specialist Kyle Hurt didn't have his best cambio, so he went with a slider to Buxton in a 2-2 count. Buxton, trying to force himself to stay back for the change, was late, and hit a foul pop-up behind first base to end the threat.

Impressively, Minnesota mounted another spunky rally in the eighth. Caratini and Royce Lewis reached against southpaw Alex Vesia, with Lewis hanging in especially well after falling behind 0-2. Vesia threw him a fastball and he scalded a single to left field. On another fateful 2-2 pitch with the game on the line, however, Lee struck out.

The Twins made offensive changes for the ninth inning, starting with Austin Martin coming in as pinch-hitter. Martin got on base, and after a flyout by Kriedler, Luke Keaschall came in as another pinch-hitter against lefty closer Tanner Scott, hoping to advance Martin to at least second with only one out. 

What Keaschall thought was a fourth ball was called a strike on a check swing (the right call; he failed to hold up), leaving the pressure of the game on Buxton’s shoulders. If he could click on a pitch from Scott, the team could walk off the winners. On another 3-2 slider, though, he took a full cut—and missed. Sweeeep. A full house witnessed a good game, but the bad guys won.

What’s Next?
The Twins have a day off before hosting the Rockies for the weekend. They're putting up Taj Bradley on the bump (6-3, 4.11 ERA), facing Tomoyuki Sugano (RHP, 8-4; 4.31 ERA) to start the series. Game one is Friday night, 7:10 CST.

Postgame Interviews 

Coming soon.

Bullpen Availability Chart

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[thelanges5]

Back to 6 games under .500 undoing the ground made up last week. A lot of terrible at bats. Pitching was good on Mon and Weds. Tues they forfeited, that was the most embarrassing game of 2026 (so far)

I hope Tom was there. 

[jkcarew]

That was a team without…

Teoscar Hernandez, Kiki Hernandez, Will Smith, Edwin Diaz, Tyler Glasgow, Blake Snell, and Kyle Tucker.

 

[Peter]

Should’ve won 2 of 3 vs Dodgers!!! Now it’s a must sweep against Colorado 

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, Sherry Cerny said:

Betts's Glove Even Bests Betts's Bat, and Both Beat Bomba Boys

 

The Twins after this series.

[tony&rodney]

Betts' athletic grab on Kreidler grounder up the middle was two runs and saved the game. It really was a beautiful play. It also highlights the small difference between wins and losses. 

One had to be impressed with how few times the Dodgers swung at pitches outside of the strike zone, particularly their role players. That team plays with extreme discipline.

It sure seemed like Kody Clemens did not expect Freeman to tag up on a relatively short fly ball to right field. I think Clemens has played really well in the field this season but perhaps there was a small lack of concentration on that play. Clemens has been a big pick up for the Twins defense wherever he plays.

Colorado is a decent team that catches a ton of rough breaks. The Twins need to reset themsleves tomorrow on their off day. Despite the big salaries on a few clubs, MLB is pretty balanced right now. Every team but Colorado is winning at least 40% of their games and the Rockies are only one victory away from that mark. I don't think the NFL or NBA have ever come close to that degree of parity.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Rough series, but today and Monday were 1 run games and we had chances in both. The LA All Stars are highly paid for a reason. I think their players on the IL might have a higher payroll than out entire team 🤣

It was fun to watch 2 of these games. 

Short memory. Rest up tomorrow and hopefully the bats wake up again against the Rockies. 

[knothole61]

It's tough to play the Dodgers, but the losses still hurt.

I'm pretty sure that Lee would have scored the tying run if he had been sent...and I'm convinced that he had to be sent with a ball fielded that deep in the corner and with two outs. He's not fast, but he has young legs and he's not a station-to-station guy like Caratini. It would have taken two perfect throws to get him at the plate, if even then. Send him and we might have won it in extras!

Time to reset and string some wins. We are just halfway home.