LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Taylor scored on a goal-laden walk in the 12th inning, Max Muncy homered twice to regain the major league lead and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Minnesota Twins 9-8 Monday night for their sixth consecutive win.
Trayce Thompson tied on a full count with the bases loaded looking to Jorge López (1-1) to give Los Angeles the win.
Will Smith also went deep as the Dodgers led 6-3 in seven innings before the game saw three ties and three lead changes over the final five innings.
Minnesota’s Trevor Larnach hit an tying home run in the eighth inning. Jorge Polanco had three hits, including one solo. Christian Vázquez also had three hits for the AL Central-leading Twins, who are down 11 straight hits against the Dodgers.
Phil Bickford (1-1) earned the Dodgers the win, allowing one run in three innings.
Minnesota trailed 6-3 in the eighth before Larnach tied on a 2-2 fastball from Yency Almonte to right center.
David Peralta had an RBI in the bottom of the eighth to put the Dodgers back on top at 7-6, but the Twins responded in the ninth to tie him up again and send him to extra innings. Correa walked the first goal and scored on Byron Buxton’s brace in the left center gap.
Larnach came home on a goal-laden walk to Vázquez in the 10th to give Minnesota their first lead of the game at 8-7. It was short-lived as JD Martinez had an RBI one-out base hit late in the inning.
MUNCY BACK ON THE SUMMIT
Muncy – who came into the game mired in a 2-for-28 slump after hitting a ninth-inning grand slam against Philadelphia on May 3 – has 14 home runs after his fourth multi-home run game this season and 13 of his career.
The Dodgers third baseman also had three hits and three RBIs.
Muncy went deep for the first time in nine games with a solo shot into right field from Twins starter Pablo López. The first pitch came immediately after Smith’s two-run homer to center to give Los Angeles the lead.
On his next at bat, Muncy hit a two-run shot on a substitution from López who just came through the wall at center to extend the Dodgers lead to 5-1.
TO START
Dodgers right-hander Noah Syndergaard went just four innings after allowing two runs and four hits with five strikeouts.
Syndergaard went just one inning in his final start on May 9 at Milwaukee after a cut on the index finger of his pitching hand opened up. He is 1-3 with a 5.94 ERA in eight starts. He signed a one-year, $13 million contract in December.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers: RHP Walker Buehler (Tommy John surgery) will kick off a bullpen session at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday. He threw a 10-ball bullpen last week in Arizona and hit 89 miles per hour at one point. Buehler was operated on August 23.
FOLLOWING
Twins: RHP Bailey Ober (2-0, 1.85 ERA) is 1-0 in four previous interleague starts.
Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (6-2, 2.36 ERA) pitched a perfect seven-inning game and struck out 13 last time he faced Minnesota on April 13, 2022.
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