Freddie Freeman's walk-off hit saves the day, lifts Dodgers to win over Twins

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3 days ago

Remember when the Dodgers injury-riddled rotation was the problem? That's so last month.
The issue now is the bullpen. Over the last four weeks the team's bullpen ERA has ballooned to 4.44. Only six teams in the majors entered Wednesday with a higher mark.
Freddie Freeman saved the Dodgers from another painful bullpen implosion Wednesday, lining a two-out, two-run single to left field in the ninth inning, giving the team a 4-3 walk-off win over the Minnesota Twins in a getaway day matinee at Dodger Stadium.
An inning earlier Kirby Yates had given up two runs and an eighth-inning lead without recording an out. That wasted a season-best effort from right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who held the Twins a run on three hits, striking out 12 batters, over seven innings. In each of his three starts since coming of the injured list, Glasnow has gone at least five innings and allowed fewer than two runs. His ERA in that span is 1.00.
Read more: 'It just wasn't pretty.' Bullpen sinks slumping Dodgers again in loss to Twins
Glasnow left with a 2-1 lead but that was gone four batters later, with Yates walking the bases loaded, missing the plate on 12 of his 18 pitches. Alex Vesia came on to get Willi Castro to hit into a double play, but that allowed the tying run to score.
Pinch-hitter Harrison Bader then untied it with a poorly-hit ball that got over the leaping Vesia before landing on the infield grass as Brooks Lee raced home from third.
The Dodgers were down to their last out in the ninth when Mookie Betts beat out an infield single. Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked and Esteury Ruiz followed with a walk of his own, bringing up Freeman, who two called strikes before slicing a line drive just in front of diving Bader in left to give the Dodgers their second win in six games since the All-Star Break.
Freeman's heroics does nothing to heal the Dodgers were they are hurting most though, and that's pitching. After losing three of his projected five starters in the season's first two months, manager Dave Roberts has had to use everything short of masking tape and bailing wire to keep a rotation together. As a result, the Dodgers have used 16 starters this season and 37 pitchers overall.
And that makeshift rotation may be to blame for the bullpen troubles. Dodger starters have thrown a big-league low 467 3/2 innings this season, averaging less than five innings a start, while their exhausted relievers have pitched a major-league leading 452 2/3 innings.
The rotation is getting healthier now that Glasnow, who has missed most of the season with an inflamed shoulder, could soon be rejoined in the rotation by two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, The left-hander, out since April 2 with shoulder inflammation, is scheduled to make his final minor-league rehab start Saturday.
Ohtani gave Glasnow an early lead Wednesday with a solo home run in the first inning. It was his fifth straight game with a home run, a career high that equaled the franchise record and it gave 37 for the season. The run was his 96th of the year, best in the majors.
Royce Lewis got that run back for the Twins in the third, leading off with his fifth home run of the season just inside the left-field foul pole. It stayed way until the seventh, when Tommy Edman looped a single over a drawn-in infield, putting to the Dodgers back in front.
Roberts isn't ready to blame the bullpen's recent struggles entirely on the heavy workload. But he's not excusing it either.
'That's how the season goes,' he said. 'It's easy to look at that in totality. I do know that we're what we're dealing with we have to kind of weather it.'
In the last two days, the Dodgers have seen left-hander reliever Tanner Scott go on the injured list with elbow inflammation and watched right-hander Ben Casparius limp off the mound with a right calf cramp, joining 11 pitchers already on the sidelines.
Casparius underwent an MRI exam, which was negative, and he is expected to be available during the team's nine-game road trip, which begins Friday in Boston. But Casparius admitted Wednesday that the bullpen's recent struggles led him to try to pitch through the soreness, likely making the injury worse.
'Going through the back of my mind [was] kind of gutting it out,' he said. 'I think you can look at it a bunch of different ways, but I'm not necessarily sure I put the team the best spot.'
Read more: Dodgers put Tanner Scott on IL, but hopeful he returns this season
Casparius said the pitchers in Dodger bullpen, who haven't had a scoreless game since July 3, have struggled collectively and will have to work collectively to get back on track.
'Momentum is everything,' he said. 'We're kind of going through our tough patch right now and hopefully it's the worst it's going to be. We've got some guys coming back. Maybe getting on the road and being uncomfortable might help us out a little bit in a weird way too.
'It's a tough part of the year. Everybody around the league is going through this type of stuff. I think we're going to turn a corner.'
Notes: Reliever Blake Treinen was scheduled to make back-to-back appearances for Triple A Oklahoma City on Wednesday and Thursday and if things go well, he could rejoin the Dodgers on the road trip. Treinen went on the injured list April 19 with forearm tightness. ... Third baseman Max Muncy is scheduled to face live pitching at the Dodgers' Arizona complex on Thursday and could begin a minor-league rehab assignment next week, far sooner than expected. Muncy was the Dodgers' hottest hitter when he sustained a bone bruise in his left knee three weeks ago. It was anticipated he would miss a month and half.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.