Edouard Julien went 3-for-4 with two home runs to help the host Minnesota Twins salvage a win in their three-game series with a 3-2 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Twins starter Chris Paddack allowed two runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked two. Kody Funderburk (1-0) earned the win in relief. Steven Okert pitched the ninth for his first MLB save in his seventh season.
Teoscar Hernandez had two hits and an RBI for Los Angeles.
Dodgers starters Bobby Miller allowed two runs and five hits in four innings, striking out four and walking three on 73 pitches.
Alex Vesia (0-1) relieved Miller to start the fifth and Julien hit his second pitch over the fence in left for an opposite-field homer and a 3-2 lead.
The Dodgers appeared to tie it in the seventh when Freddie Freeman doubled to right and Shohei Ohtani scored from first on a close play. He was originally ruled safe, but a video review quickly determined he was out.
Minnesota relievers Jorge Alcala and Brock Stewart combined to record five outs before Griffin Jax struck out the side in the eighth.
Mookie Betts singled to center on the second pitch of the game and Ohtani followed with a four-pitch walk. After first baseman Freeman flew out to shallow center field, Hernandez hit an opposite-field grounder just inside the first base line to score Betts for a 1-0 lead.
Paddack avoided further damage by getting Max Muncy to tap back to the mound and Enrique Hernandez to pop out to second.
Julien hit a line drive that barely cleared the fence in left-center field to lead off the first for Minnesota and tie it, 1-1.
Julien led off the third with a single, took third on another single by Carlos Correa and scored on a one-out base hit by Byron Buxton to move the Twins ahead 2-1.
Muncy homered to center to lead off the fourth and even the score at 2-all.
A two-out single by Teoscar Hernandez in the fifth put runners on the corners with two outs and ended the day for Paddack. Funderburk entered for Paddack and struck out Muncy to end the inning.
–Field Level Media