What was left of a crowd of 49,749 in Chavez Ravine got to witness some middle-of-May high drama Monday night when Trayce Thompson, mired in an 0-for-30 slump, drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 12th inning to lift the Dodgers to a 9-8 walk-off win over the Minnesota Twins.
Max Muncy provided some early muscle with home runs in his first two at-bats, and Phil Bickford provided three gutsy innings of relief, throwing 48 pitches and limiting the Twins to one run and one hit to help the Dodgers win for the 14th time in 16 games.
The Twins intentionally walked Freddie Freeman with one out and an automatic runner on in the 12th. Minnesota right-hander Jorge Lopez struck out Will Smith for the second out, with Chris Taylor and Freeman pulling off a double steal.
Muncy was walked intentionally to load the bases. Thompson worked the count full before taking a 96-mph fastball that was up and in for ball four.
Bickford’s night did not start out very well. With an automatic runner on second base to start the 10th, he walked Kyle Farmer to put two on. Willi Castro dropped a bunt in front of the mound that Bickford fielded cleanly, but the right-hander looked too long toward the runner going to third and threw late to first, the single loading the bases with no outs.
Bickford then walked No. 9 hitter Christian Vazquez on four pitches to force in a run for an 8-7 Twins lead, but he stopped the bleeding by striking out Donovan Solano and Alex Kirilloff and getting Michael A. Taylor to fly to the warning track in center field.
The Dodgers refused to give in, as J.D. Martinez stroked a one-out single to center field off hard-throwing right-hander Jhoan Duran to tie the score 8-8 in the bottom of the 10th. Thompson came on to run for Martinez but was picked off first, and Jason Heyward struck out, sending the game to the 11th.
Bickford gave the Dodgers a chance to win by throwing a scoreless 11th, getting Farmer to line out to Miguel Vargas at second base with two on to end the inning. The Dodgers couldn’t capitalize against Lopez, who retired the side in order in the bottom of the 11th, but Bickford gave them another chance with a scoreless 12th.
The Twins had tied the game 6-6 in the top of the eighth when Trevor Larnach hit a three-run homer off Dodgers reliever Yency Almonte.
Minnesota reliever Griffin Jax got two quick outs in the bottom of the eighth, but Vargas lofted a double to left-center, and David Peralta grounded an RBI double down the right-field line to give the Dodgers a 7-6 lead.
Dodgers’ David Peralta doubles during the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Dodger Stadium on Monday. Miguel Vargas also scored.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
But Dodgers right-hander Evan Phillips couldn’t close the game out in the ninth.
Carlos Correa walked with one out, and Byron Buxton lined a double to the wall in left-center to score Taylor, who entered as a pinch-runner, to tie the score 7-7.
Phillips struck out Jorge Polanco and Larnach to end the inning, but the Dodgers failed to score off Duran in the bottom of the ninth,
The Dodgers took a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh when Betts walked with one out and scored on Freeman’s RBI double to left-center.
Freeman took third on the throw home, but the Dodgers failed to tack on a run when Will Smith, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning and singled and scored in the third, grounded out to third, and Muncy struck out on an Emilio Pagan fastball.
That three-run cushion evaporated just three batters into the top of the eighth, when Buxton singled to left off Almonte, Polanco doubled to right and Larnach crushed a 97.7-mph fastball into the right-center-field pavilion for a three-run homer and a 6-6 tie.
The Dodgers had jumped on Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez in the first inning when Freeman singled to right-center with one out, Smith hit a two-run homer to center, and Muncy crushed a 1-and-2 changeup 390 feet to right for his 13th homer of the season and a 3-0 lead.
They extended the lead to 5-1 in the third when Smith singled to center with one out and Muncy capped a nine-pitch at-bat, which included five straight foul balls, with a towering 396-foot homer to center for his fourth multihomer game of the season and 13th of his career.
The early power burst backed a solid but abbreviated start from right-hander Noah Syndergaard.
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