The Twins shook off their losing ways on Wednesday and found a touch more offense to finally beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 and salvage the last game of the three-game series.
The Big Bopper was Eddie Julien, who had a 3-for-4 day at the plate, including two home runs, plus three runs scored and two RBI. Byron Buxton cashed in a single to drive in the third run for the Twins.
On the mound, Chris Paddack was OK, allowing just two runs across four-plus innings; however, the bullpen was especially stingy. Five relievers followed Paddack and they blanked the Dodgers the rest of the way on three hits. The win went to Kody Funderburk, who has one of the best names in the game, while Steven Okert picked up his first save. Griffin Jax struck out the side in the eighth inning on 16 pitches.
The Twins now hit the road to face the Detroit Tigers, a team that has nowhere near the star power the Dodgers have. Their next seven games on the road are against Motown and Baltimore, then they come home for seven more against the Tigers and woeful White Sox. I think the Twins are going to make up some ground in the AL Central relatively quickly. Pablo Lopez gets the ball Thursday.
Extra innings…
-Julien’s Wednesday performance isn’t the only sign that the slumbering Twins offense might be ready to wake up. Although they lost on Tuesday, Ryan Jeffers, Carlos Correa and Alex Kirilloff all hit home runs late in the game. Rookie Austin Martin also hit two doubles — the first two hits of his major league career.
-The Twins have traded to get reliever Michael Tonkin from the New York Mets. If that name sounds familiar it’s because Tonkin spent five seasons with the Twins before embarking on quite the journey. His time with the Twins wrapped up in 2017, but from 2018 through 2022, he pitched in Japan, in independent leagues and winter ball, both in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
He returned to the major leagues in 2023 and logged 80 innings for the Atlanta Braves, finishing with an elevated ERA of 4.28, but with a record of 7-3, which probably says more about the Braves’ sizzling offense than Tonkin’s pitching abilities. Still, he struck out 75 batters across those 80 innings.