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Dodgers-Twins Recap: Van Slyke Homers In 12th, Dodgers Sweep Twins

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The Los Angeles Dodger went for the doubleheader sweep against the Minnesota Twins with Red Patterson making his MLB debut for the Dodgers. The right-hander struggled in his first major league inning, giving up back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the first. After getting Trevor Plouffe to hit into a force out, Patterson issued a walk to Chris Colabello to load the bases, and Josmil Pinto hit a sac fly to score Brian Dozier. The new Dodger starter eventually managed to work his way out of the jam as the Twins took the 1-0 lead early on.

With Kris Johnson on the mound for the Twins, the two starters breezed through a scoreless second inning. Johnson gave up two hits in the top of the third as Patterson retired the batters in order. Heading into the fourth inning, Johnson issued his fourth and fifth walks of the game, but the Dodgers were unable to capitalize and left runners on first and second. Patterson logged another quick 1-2-3 inning as he found his groove on the mound.



In the fifth, Johnson saw his worst and final inning after the combination of a walk and a wild pitch resulted in Hanley Ramirez reaching third and put Adrian Gonzalez on first with just one out. Anthony Swarzak replaced Johnson and was able to force Matt Kemp into a double play as the Dodgers remained scoreless. Patterson was also taken out of the game in the fifth after giving up two walks and logging just one out. Brandon League took the mound and forced Joe Mauer into a double play to end the inning.

Scott Van Slyke started off the sixth with a line drive and reached third after Twins center fielder Aaron Hicks collided with the wall in his attempt to catch the ball. Hicks stayed in the game after the trainer came onto the field, and Juan Uribe hit a grounder up the middle to send Van Slyke home. Although the grounder bounced off of Swarzak’s pinky, he also remained in the game after a short injury delay, but continued to struggle as he loaded the bases. Michael Tonkin entered the game to record the final out as the Dodgers yet again left runners on base.

Uribe started off the bottom of the sixth with a nice diving stop that turned into a throwing error that allowed Plouffe to reach second. League gave up a grounder to Colabello allowing Plouffe to score but the pitcher efficiently worked his way out of the inning as the Dodgers headed into the seventh trailing, 2-1.

Gonzalez tied the game with a solo home run to lead off the seventh. Tonkin walked three batters to load the bases and was replaced by Caleb Thielbar as Dozier made the diving catch on a ball hit by Dee Gordon to end the outing. With the score at 2-2, League stayed on in the seventh for the first out and was then replaced by Paco Rodriguez who struck out Jason Kubel and Pedro Florimon.

Casey Fien took over for Thielbar in the eighth and retired the batters in order while Rodriguez had a more difficult time in the bottom of the inning. The newly recalled reliever allowed a leadoff walk followed by a base hit from Mauer. Brian Wilson was called from the bullpen, and the pressure was on as Dozier stole third base. With the go-ahead run on third, Wilson struck out Colabello and Josmil Pinto to end the inning.

Heading into the ninth, Glen Perkins took the mound and retired the Dodgers in order. As they prepared for extra innings, the Dodger bullpen sent out Jamey Wright, who only issued one walk in a scoreless ninth.

As the teams headed into extra innings, Brian Duensing replaced Perkins and recorded three fast outs. Wright remained on the mound and pitched another quick inning to end the 10th. Heading into the 11th, Ramirez hit a long line drive to left field for a double but was left on base as Duensing struck out Kemp looking as Wright dealt another scoreless inning.

In the 12th, Scott Van Slyke hit a lead off home run to give the Dodgers a 3-2 edge. With two outs, Drew Butera followed up with another solo homer and the lead was extended to 4-2. Jared Burton took over for the Twins and struck out Puig for the final out.

Kenley Jansen took the mound in the bottom half of the 12th and quickly found himself in trouble. Kubel hit a leadoff single, which was followed by two walks that loaded the bases with no outs. Mauer then hit a sacrifice fly to get the Twins within one run. Plouffe flew out to Puig for the second out of the inning that also resulted in Eduardo Escobar tagging and taking third. With the tying run standing 90 feet away, Dozier, representing the game-winning run, stole second without a throw. Jansen got out of the jam by getting Colabello to line out and the Dodgers won, 4-3.
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