"Please find shelter along the concourses," the Target Field scoreboard warned as heavy rain began to fall Tuesday. The alert came a half-inning too late to stop the deluge that struck the Twins' bullpen.
Dodgers surge for six runs against Twins just before clouds burst, complete 7-2 rout
On a soggy, chilly un-L.A.-like night, Chris Archer pitched four shutout innings in his Twins debut before the bullpen took over.
April 13, 2022 at 6:19AM
Chris Archer pitched four shutout innings, dancing off the mound in celebration after striking out Justin Turner to finish his night, in his first start as a Twin. But the Dodgers sent 12 hitters to the plate in an ugly eighth inning, scoring six runs to turn a tie game into an eventual 7-2 rout of the Twins that ended after midnight.
"It's a challenge. It's a good, healthy challenge to face that team, because they are going to make you make very good pitches, over and over," said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, whose team walked nine Dodger hitters, six in the final two innings. "If you find the middle of the [strike] zone, they'll probably put a good swing on it."
Archer, a late training-camp addition to the staff, had no trouble with the Dodgers, holding them to just two hits and no walks in four innings, striking out three. His fist-pumping joy was for good reason, he said.
"Just excitement. You know, I haven't been healthy in some time," said the veteran righthander. "I had a lot of friends and family here. The team has done a good job helping me understand what makes me great. Wes [Johnson, the Twins' pitching coach] has instilled the utmost confidence in me. And it was just a moment where I was just really excited."
The prospect of a pre-injury, Tampa Bay Rays-like Archer pitching every fifth day or so has his manager, who was a Rays coach at the time, really excited, too.
"He resembles that guy very closely," Rocco Baldelli said. "We're talking about a guy that, for a while, he has had one of the more electric arms in our game."
The rain held off during Archer's four-inning stint, but began falling soon after he departed. The real downpour finally arrived immediately after the Dodger downpour in the eighth, giving the Twins 88 minutes to contemplate what had happened. Their bullpen entered the game as the AL's best over the season-opening weekend, having allowed only two runs in 17 1/3 innings.
But the Dodgers took advantage of the back end of the bullpen in their six-run eighth, victimizing Emilio Pagan, Caleb Thielbar and Jhon Romero for four singles, a double and three walks, with an error by third baseman Luis Arraez mixed in, too.
It was an abrupt change for a game that had featured only three hits and one run apiece over the first seven innings, a game in which neither team's run was driven home by a hit.
Gavin Lux's sacrifice fly during a fifth-inning rain shower gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead, but the Twins answered in the bottom of the inning. Max Kepler led off with a double to center field off Dodgers starter Andrew Heaney. With one out Miguel Sano was hit by a pitch, and Luis Arraez, pinch-hitting for Gilberto Celestino, hit what appeared to be a double-play ball to L.A. shortstop Trea Turner.
But Turner bobbled the ball, then rushed a throw over Lux's head at second base, allowing Kepler to score on the error.
After the rain delay, Kepler drove in the Twins' final run, blooping a single over Lux's head into right field to score Nick Gordon.
Attendance was announced at 16,732, but there were never that many fans in the park, and only a few dozen remained at the end. Many of them were Dodger fans, who made their presence known by loudly booing Carlos Correa every time he came to the plate. Correa was part of the Astros' sign-stealing scheme in 2017, when Houston beat the Dodgers in the World Series.
Their derision, in Correa's home park, must have motivated the Twins' shortstop. He doubled twice in three at-bats Tuesday, his first multi-hit game of 2022.
The Twins executive was on hand with Cleveland when Mark Shapiro did the double, and Shapiro noticed then his ability to “connect across every role in the organization.”
