| Scoreboard | ||||||||||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| L.A. Dodgers (36-46) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Minnesota (34-45) « | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 6 | 0 |
MINNEAPOLIS -- In the wake of a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Minnesota Twins focused on sending the NL club back to California with a pair of losses.
Thanks to Scott Baker, they were able to achieve just that.
Baker struck out nine while pitching into the eighth inning and Ben Revere had two hits to help the Twins win the three-game series with a 1-0 victory Wednesday.
Baker (6-5) allowed six hits and walked one in 7 1/3 innings, dropping his ERA to 3.15. Minnesota rebounded from Monday night's 15-0 drubbing with a 6-4 win on Tuesday, then gutted out a squeaker in the finale.
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Rubby De La Rosa (3-3) also was impressive, giving up just one run and six hits in seven innings for Los Angeles. After hammering out 25 hits on Monday night, the Dodgers couldn't string anything together against Baker and two relievers.
With the tying run on base in the eighth, Glen Perkins fanned Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp to end the inning and Matt Capps finished the seven-hitter to earn his 13th save.
The Dodgers left eight runners on base and their big boppers -- Ethier and Kemp -- combined to go 1 for 8 with five strikeouts.
Revere hit a leadoff triple in the first and scored on Tsuyoshi Nishioka's groundout. Minnesota left the bases loaded in the second inning, and De La Rosa settled into a pitching duel with Baker after that.
The right-hander walked 15 batters in his previous four starts, but showed much better control against the free-swinging Twins. He had two walks Wednesday, including one intentional pass.
Baker was even better, so good that manager Ron Gardenhire sent him out to start the eighth with a pitch count of 108. Baker struck out Tony Gwynn Jr. before walking Casey Blake.
Gardenhire went to the lefty Perkins, who got Ethier looking for the slugger's third strikeout. Then the red-hot Kemp chased a breaking ball low and away to end the inning.
The Dodgers just turned the halfway point on the season, playing in their 82nd game on Wednesday, and first-year manager Don Mattingly called the first half "a rocky road." The inconsistency on the field was overshadowed by an ugly dispute between owner Frank McCourt and Major League Baseball that spilled into bankruptcy court this week.
MLB is accusing McCourt of siphoning off more than $100 million in club revenue to help fund a lavish lifestyle with wife and former team CEO Jamie McCourt, who is asking for half of his assets in divorce proceedings. But the Dodgers argue that Commissioner Bud Selig's refusal to approve a broadcast rights agreement with Fox Sports is what is causing the cash flow problem.
On Tuesday, McCourt gained approval from a judge to enter into a $150 million bankruptcy financing arrangement to keep the team running.
Notes
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| The Dodgers struggle to do anything against Scott Baker, who strikes out nine and allows no runs. (Getty Images) |
| Players of the Game |
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| Los Angeles Dodgers | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Tony Gwynn Jr., LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .239 |
| Casey Blake, 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .246 |
| Jamey Carroll, PR-2B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .301 |
| Andre Ethier, RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | .318 |
| Matt Kemp, CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .331 |
| James Loney, 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .276 |
| Juan Uribe, 2B-3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .206 |
| Marcus Thames, DH | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .203 |
| a- Trent Oeltjen, PH-DH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .381 |
| Dioner Navarro, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .170 |
| Dee Gordon, SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .243 |
| Totals | 33 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 11 | ||
| a-singled for Thames in the 9th | ||||||||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Matt Kemp (17, Baker) | ||||||||
| SH - Tony Gwynn Jr. (1) | ||||||||
| SB - Matt Kemp (22, 3rd base off Baker/Mauer), Dee Gordon (6, 3rd base off Baker/Mauer) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 8 | ||||||||
| Los Angeles Dodgers | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Rubby De La Rosa (L,3-3) | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4.41 |
| Scott Elbert | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.35 |
| Blake Hawksworth | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.57 |
| IBB - Revere by Rubby De La Rosa | ||||||||
| Pitches-Strikes - Rubby De La Rosa 99-69, Scott Elbert 4-0, Blake Hawksworth 18-12 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Rubby De La Rosa 9-8 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Rubby De La Rosa 29, Scott Elbert 1, Blake Hawksworth 4 | ||||||||
| Minnesota Twins | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Ben Revere, CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .281 |
| Tsuyoshi Nishioka, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .197 |
| Joe Mauer, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .213 |
| Michael Cuddyer, RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .283 |
| Jim Thome, DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .235 |
| Danny Valencia, 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .218 |
| Luke Hughes, 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .241 |
| Jason Repko, LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .214 |
| Matt Tolbert, 2B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .186 |
| Totals | 30 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Joe Mauer (4, De La Rosa) | ||||||||
| 3B - Ben Revere (1, De La Rosa) | ||||||||
| RBI - Tsuyoshi Nishioka (5) | ||||||||
| SB - Ben Revere (9, 2nd base off De La Rosa/Navarro), Jason Repko (6, 2nd base off De La Rosa/Navarro) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 9 | ||||||||
| Minnesota Twins | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Scott Baker (W,6-5) | 7.1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 3.15 |
| Glen Perkins (H,9) | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.93 |
| Matt Capps (S,13) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.71 |
| Pitches-Strikes - Scott Baker 119-87, Glen Perkins 6-6, Matt Capps 10-7 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Scott Baker 5-8, Matt Capps 1-2 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Scott Baker 29, Glen Perkins 2, Matt Capps 4 | ||||||||
| Game Information |
| Attendance - 39655 |
| Game Time - 2:49 |
| Temperature - 80 |
| Umpires - Home - Eric Cooper, First Base - Jeff Nelson, Second Base - Mark Carlson, Third Base - Jeff Kellogg |
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