Kyle Farmer hit a home run and drove in three runs, Bailey Ober went six solid innings and the visiting Minnesota Twins earned a 5-1 victory Tuesday to end the Los Angeles Dodgers’ six-game winning streak.
Willi Castro added an RBI single and Ryan Jeffers pulled off a successful suicide squeeze as the Twins won for the fifth time in their past seven games and set up the possibility for their third consecutive series victory over a National League opponent.
Ober (3-0) gave up one run on six hits over six innings with one walk and six strikeouts on 102 pitches, the first time he reached 100 in five starts. Relievers Brock Stewart, Jovani Moran and Griffin Jax held the Dodgers scoreless over the final three innings.
Taking the mound three days after the death of his mother, Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw (6-3) gave up two runs on seven hits over a season-low four innings. Kershaw is now expected to go on the bereavement list.
Freddie Freeman had an RBI single for Los Angeles, which lost for just the third time in its past 17 games.
The Twins got off to a fast start when Donovan Solano opened the game with a double and Farmer delivered a two-out RBI single against his former team. Minnesota made it 2-0 in the fourth inning on a Michael A. Taylor walk, a single from Joey Gallo and Castro’s RBI hit. Taylor’s walk is the only one Kershaw has allowed at home this season.
The Twins added a run in the fifth against right-hander Shelby Miller when Byron Buxton walked, stole second, went to third on a ground out and scored on Jeffers’ push bunt up the first base line.
Buxton had two steals in a game for the first time since April of 2018. The Twins stole four bases after entering with an MLB-worst 11.
The Dodgers finally got to Ober in the fifth inning to pull within 3-1 on a Miguel Rojas double and an RBI single from Freeman. Farmer hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning, his third of the season.
–Field Level Media