The Twins have won 6 straight and just dominating as of late, but we have a very tough 2 game series here in LA vs the Dodgers. Jake Odorizzi (5-0) is going up against Clayton Kershaw (4-2) someone the Twins were hoping to miss when they first saw the game on their schedule. Both pitchers are coming in with sub 3.00 ERAs. Game highlights are below:

• Top of the 4th - After 3 full innings with no base hits in the game, the Twins finally made something happen. Not a ton, but we'll take it! Josh Donaldson snuck one over the left field fence. That was the only person that got on base. But a home run is sure a lot nicer than a single or more walks. Twins lead 1-0
  
• Top of the 5th - The Twins got a couple more singles. Luckily the first one was by the speedster Buxton. He scored from first on Kepler's single. Twins lead 2-0
  
• Bottom of the 5th - Odorizzi walked Mookie Betts, only the second batter he has let on base so far. The next batter Austin Barnes hit one toward Kepler who went down in a crumple. Betts scored on the Barnes double. Kepler who started out the season so amazingly hot, but has been in a bit of a slump just got injured for a week...maybe it will be a good time for him to settle back in to his first-couple-weeks-of-the-season-self. Rosario who was on the bench came in to the game to replace Kepler. Twins lead 2-1
  
• Bottom of the 6th - Odorizzi's second hit of the game was to Justin Turner, a solo home run. Game tied 2-2
  
• Top of the 8th - With 2 outs, Mitch Garver bounced Kershaw from the game with a solo home run. Garver's second solo blast of the night and eighth of the season. Kenley Jansen replaces Kershaw, smacks Cave with a pitch but gets Adrianza swinging to end the top half of the 8th. Twins lead 3-2
  
• Bottom of the 9th - Neither the Dodgers or Twins could get anything done in their next half innings. In the bottom of the 9th, Taylor Rogers came in for the save attempt clinging to a 1 run lead and a couple guys you just don't want to see in this situation...that is actually like the whole Dodgers lineup. First up was Bellinger and he went down swinging. Next up was Corey Seager who watched strike 3 sail by him. A.J. Pollock came up to pinch hit for Matt Beaty with the game on the line. And oh man did he connect with that ball. He hit a super deep drive to center field, luckily the wind wasn't blowing out and it sat down at the last minute.
  

TWINS WIN 3-2

What a huge win. We've been winning a ton recently but have had a pretty easy part of our schedule. This was a true test against the Dodgers, and Kershaw in LA and we just aced it. Kershaw unusually threw a lot of walks, but overall pitched a good game and got the quality start loss. He was out pitched by the Twins April MVP Jake Odorizzi (He is 6-0 with a 2.09 ERA!!) who threw a 75 game score for the evening. Garver lit it up with 2 homers grabbing both the Twins' RBI for the day. That was what the Twins needed. If Odorizzi pitched like his April version of himself, to stay in this game against Kershaw they'd need some home runs and Garver provided them. Garver has a 1.091 OPS for the season thus far. Taylor Rogers pitched a great 9th getting his 7th save of the season. Even with Kepler out for a week this team is looking good for the rest of this LA trip.

https://www.dynastyleaguebaseball.com/GameRecap.aspx?OrgID=116202&GameID=773b055fb3a748609881406c89429255&ReportType=1

TWINS 23-7 _ tied for first with the Indians

Other League News

*The big Twins news is that the Indians lost giving the Twins a share of the AL Central. The Indians (24-8) have been winning by the skin of their teeth in a lot of these games, against good and not so good teams. Today with Adam Plutko pitching they just couldn't hold up against a hot Rays team (21-10). I believe this is the first time this season they have lost 2 straight games. *I haven't been saying Trout's name too often this season, maybe because he is on an underwhelming Angels team again, but he has quietly hit 8 home runs. *What's better than hitting for the cycle? Getting two home runs instead of that elusive triple. Yuli Gurriel did that in his effort giving the Astros (18-11) the win over the D-Backs (13-16). *Scott Heienman of the Rangers got injured for 2 months. *I just mentioned in my last post about how poorly Ivan Nova has been for the Tigers (5-24) this season. Today his line was 1 IP, 4 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1K, 9 Batters Faced versus the Yankees who obviously got the win (16-14). Nova's ERA is up to 8.10 with an 0-6 record.

Twins Player Stats & More

https://www.dynastyleaguebaseball.com/TeamStats.aspx?OrgID=116202&TeamID=10&Report=0&GameType=0&Splits=0