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Dodgers roll with MLB season-high 25 hits
MINNEAPOLIS — Even an hour after Monday’s game, the Dodgers kept collecting hits.
With a season-high 25 hits and 15 runs, the Dodgers broke out the bats in a big way on Monday against the Twins, cruising to a 15-0 victory at Target Field. But with the way Chad Billingsley dominated on the mound, one of each would have sufficed.
“It’s just one of those days,” said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. “Everything went right from the beginning and kept going tonight. A lot of times you’ll see it start and kind of stop, but it just kind of kept going tonight.”
The 25 hits were the most by any team in the Majors this season, and matched a club record for the Dodgers, who last reached the mark on May 19, 2006, against the Angels.
Tony Gwynn, one of four Dodgers with three or more hits, got things started, leading off the game with a single and scoring two batters later as Andre Ethier reached on a throwing error by shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Ethier also scored as Matt Kemp followed with a double to the gap in right.
The Dodgers added a run in the third, two in the fourth, three in the fifth, two in the sixth, two more in the seventh, and three for good measure in the eighth inning. For the first time in Los Angeles Dodgers history, every player in the lineup had at least one hit, one run and one RBI.
“Really?” Gwynn asked when told of that stat. “I told you, it was one of those games that guys swung the bat well, got into good counts. … Matt and Andre do what they always do and they had a good supporting cast today.”
After the game, a fielding error in the fourth by Nishioka was ruled a hit for Ethier, giving the Dodgers their 25th hit. It set a new club record for hits allowed by the Twins in a nine-inning game.
Kemp had four hits in five at-bats, including his National League-leading 22nd home run of the season in the seventh off lefty Phil Dumatrait, a 444-foot blast off the batter’s eye in center field. He also scored twice and drove in a pair.
“You wish you could have more days like that,” Kemp said. “Hopefully that’s the start of something good.”
Former Twins player Casey Blake also homered in the seventh, his fourth of the year, and ex-Minnesota prospect Trent Oeltjen hit his first home run of the season in the fourth. It was the fourth time this season the Dodgers had hit three home runs in a game, and the first since June 11 at Colorado.
Oeltjen also had four hits, including a triple in the eighth, finishing a double shy of the cycle. In his final at-bat, Oeltjen hit a single to right field, giving a long look at going to second before deciding against it.
“All the boys were talking to me before I went up there, ‘Hey, you know you need a double,'” Oeltjen said. “But I hit it right at him.”
Would his manager have been upset if Oeltjen took a shot at stretching it into a double with a 15-0 lead in the top of the ninth?
“Yeah, I would’ve been, because he’d have gotten thrown out by like 20 feet and it would’ve looked really bad,” Mattingly said. “It’s one of those games, you don’t really want to embarrass the other team. You feel good about it, but you’ve been on the other side.”
Billingsley kept the Twins off-balance all night, giving up just four hits in six shutout innings. The right-hander also struck out four batters while walking two in his seventh win of the season.
When the Twins did get hits in the game, the Dodgers’ defense backed up Billingsley with a few strong plays. They turned double plays in the third and the sixth, and Dee Gordon threw out Alexi Casilla at the plate on a strong relay throw after Joe Mauer doubled to left.
Even with all the offense, Gordon and Gwynn seemed most excited about their defense.
“I was pumped on that one — it’s not a lot of times you’re going to be able to get assists off those types of plays,” Gwynn said. “They only had the camera on him, but I was yelling, he was yelling … that’s the kind of stuff we worked on during spring and we’ve been pretty good at it all year.”
Twins starter Nick Blackburn got hit around for eight runs (seven earned) on 13 hits over 4 1/3 innings with one walk and one strikeout.
The Dodgers jumped all over Blackburn early in the count, with 11 of the 13 hits coming on the first or second pitch of the at-bat.
“I don’t think we really need to talk a whole lot about this one. We got murdered,” said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. “Everything we threw up there, pretty much from the beginning, found holes and were hits. There were a lot of runs across.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Dodgers notebook, 6/27
Broxton takes step back, Furcal progressing
MINNEAPOLIS — Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton underwent an MRI exam on Monday after feeling pain in his elbow while playing catch Sunday at Class A Rancho Cucamonga.
Broxton, who was previously on schedule to return this weekend, also was set to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache after having the MRI.
“It definitely wasn’t a good thing,” said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. “The fact that he took a lot of time off, slowly came back, [pitched] two outings, and then have maybe a day and a half, two days later he’s having elbow [issues] and it’s doing the same thing. …
“That’s not a good thing and it kind of shifts the rehab to a point where we’ve got to find out what’s going on again.”
Mattingly also gave a quick update on shortstop Rafael Furcal, who also is on a rehab stint with Class A Rancho Cucamonga.
Furcal (strained left oblique) went 2-for-3 on Sunday with three runs scored in the Quakes’ 13-1 victory over the Lancaster JetHawks.
“[He] was good,” Mattingly said. “He DH’d yesterday, he’s going to play short today. No real reports on his swing or anything like that, just the fact that we know he did well.”
Guerrier makes first return trip to Twins country
MINNEAPOLIS — Former Twins right-hander Matt Guerrier made his return to Target Field on Monday for the first time since signing a three-year, $12 million deal with the Dodgers in the offseason.
Guerrier, who posted a combined 3.38 ERA in seven seasons with the Twins and led the American League in appearances in 2008-09, was happy to return to Minnesota, saying there were no hard feelings about leaving.
“It’s good to be back,” Guerrier told reporters. “It’s exciting to see everybody and to come back and see a couple of the changes that’s been done here. It’s different, but exciting.”
Guerrier, who has a 4.50 ERA in 38 innings this year, talked to several of his former teammates during early batting practice, including right-hander Joe Nathan. Nathan said he’s scheduled to meet up with Guerrier after the game, and had nothing but positives to say about his former bullpen mate.
“We miss him on both ends,” Nathan said. “He’s obviously a great guy in the clubhouse and kept guys loose by smiling. Obviously, there’s what he does on the field. He was leading the league in appearances and all that, so guys like that are very hard to replace.”
Mattingly, Kershaw address bankruptcy filing
MINNEAPOLIS — Prior to Monday’s game at Target Field, manager Don Mattingly answered questions about the Dodgers filing for bankruptcy for five minutes before getting to any queries related to their play on the field.
The Dodgers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Delaware court earlier Monday — which sets in motion the beginning of legal proceedings that will decide the future of Frank McCourt’s ownership — was the main topic of discussion in the visitors’ dugout.
But even as the club’s off-the-field issues have overshadowed what the Dodgers have done on the field, Mattingly insists it’s still business as usual at the ballpark, and the team’s struggles through 79 games are not related to the ownership situation.
“I honestly believe that,” Mattingly said. “I know there’s a lot going on and a lot of talk about it. And again, I think it’s an area that, to really say that that’s not getting a hit with runners in scoring position or making a pitch with a guy in scoring position or any of that … I think it’s just not true.”
The Dodgers entered their Interleague series against the Twins with a 35-44 record, sitting 9 1/2 games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants.
Left-hander Clayton Kershaw, like his manager, sees no correlation between the off-field issues and the on-field play.
“I really don’t think so,” Kershaw said. “You see the guys in this room, you see guys like Matt [Kemp] and Andre [Ethier] and James [Loney] is hitting really well right now … we’ve got all the pieces. And that’s almost the frustrating part is that we’re not just stringing the wins together like we should.
“But I definitely don’t think what’s going on out there is resulting in a poor team on the field. I think we’ve got good players. We should be playing better than we are, and the good news is we’re not quite halfway there yet, so we’ve still got a shot.”
Mattingly and Kershaw both noted that an e-mail from Peter Wilhelm, the Dodgers’ chief financial officer, was forwarded to everyone on the team, letting them know the club would continue to operate as usual within the organization.
Kershaw said that as a team, they “definitely like to focus on baseball,” and that he hopes the whole situation will be figured out soon.
“I think that’s what everybody wants, whether it’s Mr. McCourt or baseball or us. Everybody wants it just to be settled,” Kershaw said. “That’s kind of what everybody’s going for, it’s just everybody has differences of opinion on how to get there.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. MLB.com reporter Rhett Bollinger contributed to this report. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Pavano struggles as Twins are swept by Brewers
MILWAUKEE — A six-game National League roadtrip finally ended on Sunday for the Twins, but not before their fifth straight loss, a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Brewers at Miller Park.
It was Minnesota’s seventh consecutive loss to Milwaukee, finalizing the Brewers’ second straight sweep of the Twins.
“I hear they’ve struggled a little bit offensively, but we don’t see it,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We see some pretty good hitters all the way up and down that lineup, to tell you the truth. Right now, I wish we struggled like they were struggling.”
In the first inning of the trip, the Twins’ offense looked pretty good, as it scored eight runs on nine hits on the way to its eighth straight victory. In the ensuing 53 innings, the Twins were outscored, 30-9.
Minnesota now sits nine games behind first-place Detroit.
“For us right now, because of the injuries, everything’s got to be going on all cylinders,” said Michael Cuddyer. “Our hitters have to pick up our pitchers, and our pitchers have to pick up the hitters. That’s the way that we went on our streak, and that’s the way we’re going to have to win. That’s it.”
Right-hander Carl Pavano got the win in a 9-2 victory over the Giants on Tuesday, but he couldn’t end the Twins’ losing skid on Sunday. After four scoreless innings, Pavano gave up five runs, including a two-run home run to Ryan Braun in the fifth and RBI doubles in the sixth by Jonathan Lucroy and Brewers starter Chris Narveson.
It all started with a triple to left field by Lucroy that could have been a double, if Jason Repko had fielded it cleanly. Pavano retired the next two batters, but Nyjer Morgan followed with an RBI single before Braun crushed an 0-1 pitch to right-center.
“He can really hit the ball, we’ve all known that for a long time,” Gardenhire said. “He covered that fastball pretty good. I think it was up just a little bit, but man, he hit the heck out of that ball.”
Pavano finished with five runs allowed on eight hits over six innings, with five strikeouts and one walk. He took his sixth loss of the season, despite recording his 1,000th career strikeout in the fifth inning.
“That’s a tough loss,” Pavano said. “My job today was to go out there and end this losing streak, and I wasn’t able to do that.”
Jim Thome, who pinch-hit in the seventh, reached a milestone of his own by recording his 1,637th RBI, putting him ahead of Ernie Banks for 28th on the all-time list.
In addition to helping his own cause at the plate, Narveson was impressive on the mound, giving up just two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings, with seven strikeouts against two walks. Narveson improved to 5-5 on the season with a 4.42 ERA.
Not only did the Twins lose five of six games on the roadtrip, they also added two more injuries to the long list they had already compiled this season. The Twins have now used the disabled list 16 times this season for 13 players.
“It’s tough to go out there and win and even compete when you’re missing some of your best players,” Braun said. “I think when they get everybody back healthy, obviously, they’re a much better team.”
Of the nine hitters in the Opening Day lineup for the Twins, only three — Alexi Casilla, Danny Valencia and Cuddyer — have avoided stints on the DL. Through 76 games this season, the Twins have used 39 players, including four catchers, four shortstops, five second basemen, six left fielders, five right fielders and 11 designated hitters.
But that doesn’t mean anyone is going to take it easy on the injury-plagued Twins.
“I don’t really care,” Brewers slugger Prince Fielder said. “That’s the team that’s out there, so you have to try to beat them.”
Gardenhire has also used 70 different batting orders and 66 different defensive lineups in 76 games. The most common of each has only been used three times.
When the Twins won 15 of 17 games earlier this month, they executed well, and it didn’t seem to matter who they put on the field. On this trip, they looked more like the Twins ballclub that was 20 games under .500 and 16 1/2 games back at the beginning of June.
Especially in Milwaukee, sloppy defense and mistakes cost the Twins. In their five straight losses, the Twins have committed seven errors, which allowed four unearned runs to score.
“It looked like we were chasing a mouse around out there,” Gardenhire said. “I hate sloppy baseball. … Those are plays you just have to make. And it just shows right up on the scoreboard when you don’t make ’em; all these runs start going up.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Young sprains ankle, lands on DL
MILWAUKEE — As he crashed into the left-field fence in the fifth inning, Delmon Young’s spike got caught on the bottom of the wall, forcing his weight down on his right ankle.
Young left Saturday’s 11-1 loss at Miller Park and was carted off after suffering a right ankle sprain. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list after the game, and the Twins recalled outfielder Rene Tosoni.
“I got my spike caught on the bottom of the scoreboard; the black ledge just sticks out,” Young said. “Instead of my foot missing it and just hitting the ground, it got caught in there, and the rest of my weight went into it.”
Young misjudged a fly ball by Brewers shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, first coming in on it before racing back toward the warning track. As he crashed into the left-field fence, he landed awkwardly on his ankle at the bottom of the wall. Betancourt raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
The ball bounced away from Young as he laid on the warning track, clearly in pain. He was helped to his feet and onto a stretcher before being carted off the field.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire and the training staff raced out to attend to Young when he was unable to get back up after the play.
“I saw him go into the wall and then when I saw him start rolling, honestly, I passed Betancourt rounding third,” Gardenhire said. “I was out of the dugout running that way and he was coming home. I was just looking at Delmon and it didn’t look very pretty.”
X-rays taken at Miller Park on Young came back negative. Young will have an MRI when the Twins return to Minnesota on Monday.
“Hopefully the MRI shows that there’s no ligament damage or anything,” Young said. “It’s not as [bad] as the sprain I had back in ’03 before the Draft, but it’s the same foot. So hopefully this one doesn’t cause any problems from the first one I had.”
Young already spent two weeks on the disabled list in early May with a strained oblique, and his most recent injury is yet another on a long list for the Twins this season.
“We’ve been dealing with it,” Gardenhire said. “You just have to keep playing and keep trying to run people out there. It’ll be easier on us once we get back to American League baseball.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Liriano can’t find groove vs. Crew
MILWAUKEE — After an early lead, things got ugly in a hurry for the Twins on Saturday night, as they fell, 11-1, to the Brewers.
Left-hander Francisco Liriano seemed to be in control in the third, until former Twins center fielder Carlos Gomez turned on a 1-2 slider and put it into the seats in left field for a go-ahead two-run home run.
Despite entering the game batting just .210 on the season, Gomez improved his batting average to .370 (10-for-27) against his former team. He was not shy about enjoying the home run either, flipping the bat to the dirt and trotting slowly to first before speeding up the rest of the way.
“I know I hit it good,” Gomez said. “In the last four, five starts, I didn’t hit a base hit. My only base hit in the month was the pinch-hit double [on June 16 against the Cubs] so I felt really good and excited about this. They know it’s nothing personal, especially when I have my best friend on the mound.”
Gomez had a similar incident last season when the Twins and Brewers met at Target Field, as he admired a three-run blast late in a 15-3 loss, flipping his bat and hitting Joe Mauer behind the plate with it.
Even so, the Twins weren’t bothered by it.
“I had Go-Go, he’s a great kid,” Gardenhire said. “He plays at one speed and it doesn’t get under my skin at all. He’s a really cool kid and he’s just playing really hard. And he hustles all the time and he has a passion for the game. So, no, it doesn’t bother me a bit.”
Liriano admitted after the game that the pitch location may not have been the best against a hitter like Gomez.
“I don’t think it was the right pitch to throw to Gomez,” Liriano said. “He’s pulling everything, so, I think throwing that slider down and in is doing a favor to him.”
The home run by Gomez, his fifth of the season, sparked a big inning for the Brewers, who plated three more runs in the inning on three singles, two errors and a walk. Liriano would leave the game in the fourth, having allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings of work.
Things only got worse for the Twins after Liriano left the game.
With two out in the fifth, Brewers shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt drove a 1-0 curveball from Anthony Swarzak to left, which was misjudged by Delmon Young, resulting in an inside-the-park home run. Young initially ran in on the ball before racing back to try and make the catch.
As Young stretched for the ball, he crashed into the left-field fence, with his right leg landing awkwardly at the bottom of the wall. Young was unable to get up, allowing Betancourt to score, and was helped onto a stretcher before being carted off the field with a right ankle sprain. X-rays taken at the ballpark on Young came back negative.
“I got my spike caught on the bottom of the scoreboard, the black ledge just sticks out,” Young said. “Instead of my foot missing it and just hitting the ground, it got caught in there, and the rest of my weight went into it.”
In the seventh and eight innings, the Brewers added four more runs for good measure, including a two-run home run by Prince Fielder off lefty reliever Phil Dumatrait and a solo shot by Corey Hart off Joe Nathan.
As the Twins struggled to keep the Brewers off the board, Brewers right-hander Yovani Gallardo kept the Twins offense off balance all night, allowing just one run on six hits over seven innings.
The Twins dropped their fourth straight game after winning eight in a row. They scored just one run for the third time in their last four, and they’ve averaged just 1 1/2 runs per game over that stretch.
“Not a good night for us,” Gardenhire said. “We had one bad inning early, we missed a couple of plays, and they banged it all over the place.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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