Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Well, there were more twists and turns than a Victorian novel, but at the end of the night, it was your Los Angeles Dodgers who were the victors in a wild 9-8 win over the Minnesota Twins at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. Maybe not a novel, but at least a juicy three-act play. Let’s recap the plot of this potboiler, shall we?
Act One: Dodgers take a big lead early
Thanks to better-than-expected pitching for four innings from Noah Syndergaard and three home runs in the first three innings (two by Max Muncy, who’s still battling the flu), the Dodgers jumped out to an early 5-1 off the Twins’ best pitcher, Pablo Lopez. It looked like they would cruise to an easy victory.
Act Two: Twins mount a gritty comeback (twice)
You have to hand it to the Twins, though. They could have conceded defeat to the mighty Dodgers and rolled over in this one. But they did not. With a great game from second baseman Jorge Polanco, the Twins chipped away at the lead during the middle innings, and finally came all the way back in the 8th on a huge three-run home run from the red-hot Trevor Larnach.
With the game now tied at 6-6, the Dodgers got the lead right back in the bottom of the eighth when Miguel Vargas and David Peralta both hit doubles to score a run. Peralta’s double was perhaps (okay, probably) foul down the first base line, but thanks to a non-reviewable call by the first base umpire, the Dodgers were back in the lead and only needed Evan Phillips to close it out.
However, Phillips couldn’t finish off this pesky Twins team. Carlos Correa (our best buddy) drew a walk, and then was replaced by speedy outfielder Michael A. Taylor to run at first. Then, All-Star Byron Buxton, struggling mightily of late, stepped into the box and did what All-Stars do; he sent a bullet to the wall in the left centerfield gap that easily scored Taylor to tie up the game. Phillips was able to extricate himself from the situation with no further damage, but extra innings were on.
Act Three: A hero (named Bickford) will rise
With precious few options left in the pen, it was up to Phil Bickford to take the team the rest of the way through extra innings, however long that might be. At first, it looked like it might be very short indeed because Bickford was very wild coming out of the chute. With a gifted runner at second, Bickford walked a guy, misplayed a bunt attempt, and walked another guy to give the Twins a 8-7 lead with nobody out. Yikes!
However, things began to turn thanks to some verrrrrrrrrrrrry generous (some would say horrible) calls from home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. After getting a legit strikeout of Donavan Solano, Bickford retired Alex Kiriloff on two pitches clearly outside of the zone. After that, it was just a matter of getting Michael A. Taylor to fly out to center, and the Dodgers were back to the bat rack trailing by just one. All things considered, a victory.
The Dodgers tied it up in the bottom of the frame when flamethrower Jhoan Duran inexplicably hung a curveball to J.D. Martinez. Martinez banged the pitch into left field and the game was tied once again as free runner Will Smith crossed the plate with the Dodgers’ 8th run.
After a scoreless 11th inning, the two teams went into the 12th, and the Dodgers were really working without a net. With Victor Gonzalez and Brusdar Graterol both sitting in the pen unavailable for the game, it was up to Bickford to get three more outs to give the Dodgers a chance to walk it off. Bickford had never thrown so many pitches in his big-league career, but the dude stepped up big-time, once again shutting down the Twins and getting the Dodgers back in the dugout with the game still tied.
With good speed at second in Chris Taylor and the top of the order coming up, Twins manager gave reliever Jorge Lopez an almost impossible task. After a Mookie Betts pop up, he gave a free pass to Freddie Freeman, and worked to Will Smith. Lopez got a rare strikeout from Smith, and then with two outs, Baldelli put up four fingers again to put Max Muncy on first and load the bases with two outs.
This meant that it was up to Trayce Thompson, who it feels like hasn’t had a hit since Tomogotchis were a thing. And he didn’t get a hit in this one. But, he did watch four pitches from a tired Lopez go wide of the plate, and the winning run was home. Mercy me, what a game!
“I mean, as good of an outing from him as you’ll ever see,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of Bickford and his 48 pitches. “Everyone in that room knows that he really cares. He cares more about being a good teammate than being a good baseball player, truth be told, and he left it all out there and we needed every bit of it.”
“It made me very happy,” Bickford said, when asked about his teammates celebrating the right-hander after the game. “This team is super cool. We’ve all got each other’s back, and it just made it that much more neat to be able to be given an opportunity like that and come out on the winning side. It was super cool.”
