Wrobleski, Dodgers dominate Twins in blowout win

MINNEAPOLIS — A rain delay usually asks for patience. On Tuesday night at Target Field, it also seemed to ask for inevitability.

Once the weather finally cleared and the tarp came off, the Dodgers treated the rest of the night like something they had already decided in advance. One inning of buildup, then a relentless offensive surge, and eventually a 12-3 win over the Minnesota Twins that felt every bit as lopsided as the final score suggests.

The Dodgers are now 51-29 overall and an impressive 25-15 on the road, a mark that continues to underline just how comfortable this team has been away from home.

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Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Alex Call (12) celebrates hitting a home run against the Minnesota Twins in the eighth inning at Target Field.

It started quickly, as it so often does when Shohei Ohtani is involved. He drew a walk to open the game, immediately setting the tone. From there, Tommy Edman, activated midseason and already looking like he never left, kept his hot stretch rolling. Edman has been everything the Dodgers hoped for since returning from the injured list, and his first-inning single drove Ohtani home for a 1-0 lead. 

It was his eighth hit in his first 22 at-bats off the IL, and it came with the same simple efficiency that has defined his return: no wasted motion, no wasted opportunities.

For a team that waited for his health to stabilize, the payoff has been immediate.

The Dodgers kept stacking pressure in the third inning when Freddie Freeman doubled to center with one out, a swing that carried historical weight along with the scoreboard impact. The double tied Carlos Beltrán for No. 28 on the all-time list with 565 career doubles, another line in a resume that continues to grow without much attention to the pace of it.

Soon after, an Edman ground ball allowed Freeman to score, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 edge.

Minnesota briefly hung around. A second-inning solo home run off Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski tied the game, and a third-inning RBI sequence briefly evened things again. Josh Bell’s bloop single brought home Byron Buxton, and for a moment it looked like the Twins might turn the night into something competitive.

Instead, the Dodgers simply separated.

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Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) hits a RBI sacrifice fly against the Minnesota Twins in the fourth inning at Target Field.

In the fourth inning, Ohtani lifted a sacrifice fly for his 45th RBI of the season, restoring the lead at 3-2. From there, the game tilted sharply. Freeman drove in another run with a single. Mookie Betts followed immediately with his own RBI single. In a matter of minutes, a one-run game had become a 5-2 Dodgers lead, and Target Field settled into the familiar feeling of an opponent trying to stop a wave that had already built too much momentum.

Freeman wasn’t finished. In the sixth, he doubled again, this time bringing in another run and pushing the lead to 6-2. It was the kind of night where every Dodgers star seemed to find at least one moment, and Freeman collected several.

By the time the bullpen doors started opening, the game had already effectively moved on from its competitive phase.

There were still highlights to come. Chuckie Robinson, in the midst of an unlikely but productive night, laid down a sacrifice bunt in the seventh that scored Alex Call. Robinson finished with two hits, his first multi-hit game since 2022, and his first hits of the season entirely. It was the kind of depth contribution that tends to get buried in a blowout but still matters to a clubhouse that values every spot in the order.

Then came more offense.

Call led off the ninth with his first home run of the season. Alex Freeland walked. Miguel Rojas, pinch-hitting for Ohtani, ripped an RBI double. Andy Pages added another RBI single. And then Max Muncy delivered the finishing blow, a double to right, driving in both Pages and Betts.

By the end, every Dodgers hitter had reached base. The lineup collected 17 hits, matching a season high, and did most of its damage against a Twins bullpen that had little margin for error once the game slipped away.

If the offense was overwhelming, Wrobleski was steady in a quieter way.

The left-hander worked seven innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs while striking out three on 92 pitches. He surrendered a second-inning home run that briefly tied the game, and later a pair of RBI singles that kept Minnesota within reach for a short time. But each time the Twins nudged, Wrobleski answered with length and composure, giving the Dodgers exactly what a front-runner needs: time for the offense to take over.

His final line, 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Wrobleski dropped his ERA to 2.71, which now ranks among the best in baseball and reinforces what has become one of the Dodgers’ most important internal stories. He began spring training outside the rotation picture entirely. Injuries opened a door. He walked through it and hasn’t given it back.

Edgardo Henriquez handled the eighth cleanly, and Brock Stewart closed it out in the ninth, though not without a final Twins swing, a solo home run by Brooks Lee that served only as a late footnote.

That was the night in Minnesota: a delayed start, a brief reminder of uncertainty, and then a Dodgers offense that erased it all in a hurry.

Now comes the final test of the series. The Dodgers will try to complete the sweep on Wednesday, with Ohtani scheduled to take the mound against Joe Ryan.