The Los Angeles Dodgers were behind 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning and in danger of dropping the three-game series to the Minnesota Twins. Down to their last out, and down to their last strike with the bases loaded, Freddie Freeman took a 96-mph heater into left field, scoring Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani to give the Dodgers a 4-2 walk off victory.
The Dodger dugout emptied in jubilation to embrace their hero, and the first one to meet Freeman was Dodger starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow. Had it not been for Freddies heroics, Glasgow’s stellar performance on the mound would have been all for naught. On the day, Tyler threw 106 pitches over seven full innings, giving up only three hits, striking out twelve and only walking one.
On Glasnow’s performance Dodger manager Dave Roberts said, “Today he was fantastic. We got him into the seventh inning and gosh, he was really good. Command, delivery and all that. To get us into the seventh inning was huge. And just to stabilize the rotation was fantastic.”
For the fifth game in a row, Ohtani hit another homer, giving the Dodgers an early lead in the first inning. The blast tied Shohei for the most homers in a row hit by a Dodger.
In the third inning Glasnow would give up one of his three hits to Royce Lewis, but that hit cleared the left field wall and would tie the game, 1-1.
Twins pitcher Chris Paddack locked up the Dodger bats for six innings, but as soon as he was removed the Dodgers were able to scratch a run off Danny Coulombe in the seventh when Tommy Edman singled, scoring Freeman who singled to open the inning. The Dodgers took a slim 2-1 lead going into the eighth inning.
Enter Dodger reliever Kirby Yates. Dave Roberts watched in disbelief from the dugout as Yates walked the first three batters he faced. Roberts marched onto the field and yanked Yates, but the initial damage was done. The bases were loaded with no one out.
Alex Vesia came on in relief and got the first batter to ground into a double play. Willi Castro scored from third and tied the game. Twin Harrison Bader hit a high chopper into no man’s land in the infield, scoring Brooks Lee on the “excuse me “hit. Vesia got the last Twin batter to line out, but the Twins took a 3-2 lead.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the ninth when the Dodgers came up for their last at bats. Tommy Edman lined out to left and Michael Conforto followed suit by lining out to the shortstop. With two outs, Betts legged out an infield single. Ohtani was intentionally walked. Esteury Ruiz walked, loading the bases. That is when Freeman came to bat hitting a single that scored two runs, Betts and Ohtani, giving the Dodgers the walk off victory and securing the series win over the Twins. It was a hard-earned victory for the Dodgers and a great way to end the difficult homestand. No doubt it will make the plane ride to Boston a lot more enjoyable.
By William Trillo
