The Dodgers (50-29) took the first game of this three game set against the Minnesota Twins (38-42) last night in a tightly contested 2-1 win. The Dodgers scored both runs via solo shots from Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, while the Twins could only muster one of their own, coming in the first inning by Byron Buxton. Eric Lauer earned his second win as a member of the Dodgers after tossing six hitless innings, bringing his ERA down to 2.54 with Los Angeles. Tanner Scott closed it out, and the team will now look to Justin Wrobleski to secure the series win to open this nine-game road trip. The 23 year-old lefty Kendry Rojas will be making his second career start, looking to even the series for the Twins. The American League is super mediocre this year, so even though the Twins are four games below .500, they’re just two games out of a Wild Card spot, and 3.5 out of first in the AL Central.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 4:40 P.M. | Minnesota | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | LF | Martin |
| CF | Pages | CF | Buxton |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | DH | Bell (S) |
| SS | Betts | 1B | Lewis |
| LF | Edman (L) | 3B | Lee (S) |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | C | Caratini (S) |
| RF | Call | 2B | Keaschall |
| 2B | Freeland (S) | SS | Kreidler |
| C | Robinson | RF | Fedko |
| P | Wrobleski (L) | P | Rojas (L) |
With both Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing still out for precautionary reasons, Alex Call and Chuckie Robinson will receive the starts in their place. Tommy Edman gets the start in left field over Ryan Ward against the left-handed Rojas. The Twins will start Austin Martin and Kyler Fedko in the corners against the left-handed Wrobleski, over Trevor Larnach and Kody Clemens.
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Wrobleski had a really rough start against the Pirates a couple weeks ago, allowing four earned runs across 4.2 innings, but bounced back from that outing with six scoreless innings against the Rays his last time out. He was much sharper in that outing, logging five strikeouts and allowing just three hits with no walks. He averaged 95.3 mph on his four-seam fastball, which marked his third consecutive outing where he’s averaged over 95, a positive trend to combine with the already above-average command and strike throwing ability. Who knows how sustainable all of this performance is, but he has a 2.72 ERA across 79.1 innings and an 8-2 record. He’s putting together a campaign worthy of an All-Star nod if he can keep this going for a few more outings.
The Twins sold nearly their entire bullpen last trade deadline, and that included Louis Varland who has become one of the best relievers in baseball this year with the Blue Jays. The main return was the left-handed Rojas, who has premium stuff and limited ability to command it currently. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs moved Rojas into his updated Top-100, and has Rojas with “good raw fastball carry that touches 99, with both of his secondaries cracking 90 mph”.
Rojas has a 1.26 ERA in 14.1 innings across five outings, throwing anywhere from 2-4 innings depending on how the outing plays out. He has 14 strikeouts in those innings but also has ten walks, highlighting the command issues at this current point. He’s left-handed, throws in the upper-90’s, has quality breaking pitches, and strong bat missing ability, all of which clearly makes him one of Minnesota’s most promising arms.
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Maybe Tucker getting a couple games off will serve as a nice reset for him.
The team can handle some injuries, but Tucker and Rushing missing time while Teoscar and Smith are already out is tough.
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First pitch is scheduled for 4:40 PT on SNLA.