Shohei Ohtani homered for the fifth straight game to tie a club record and Freddie Freeman had a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a crucial 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon to avoid further decline in their adverse mid-season.

The Dodgers, who had been defeated in 11 of their last 14 games, were headed for another series loss. But a bold gamble by the Twins manager ultimately paid off for the reigning champions.

Trailing 3-2 with two outs in the ninth inning, a subdued Mookie Betts singled to the infield to bring in Shohei Ohtani, who had hit his 37th home run of the year at the start of the game. Then manager Rocco Baldelli made an unusual decision: intentionally walking the MVP, putting the potential go-ahead run on base. Esteury Ruiz came up to bat for the Dodgers and walked off reliever Griffin Jax, who suddenly fumbled, loading the bases. The next batter, Freddie Freeman, lined a single to left field that was nearly caught by Harrison Bader. Betts and Ohtani scored easily to give Los Angeles the win.

Starter Tyler Glasnow struck out 12 batters

The Dodgers took the series 2-1 to find oxygen on days when the team suffers a lot: sometimes the hitting looks completely dull, other times the pitching doesn't respond as it did on Tuesday when LA fell 10-7, and the defense has been generally mediocre.

The best news of the day for manager Dave Roberts is that starter Tyler Glasnow, who recently returned to activity, had his best performance of the year with 7 innings in which he only allowed 3 hits, 1 run and struck out 12.

But the A wild run by reliever Kirby Yates in the eighth inning, after Los Angeles had taken a 2-1 lead, allowed Minnesota to turn the score around.

Dodgers reach 60 wins in 2025

The Dodgers, who were swept at home by Milwaukee over the weekend, improved to 60-43 and currently have a 4.5-game lead over San Diego in the NL West.

Despite their division lead, the Dodgers have looked out of shape with numerous hitters who have been in slumps, in addition to a long list of pitchers sidelined with injuries.

Some of them have already returned - like Glasnow - or are about to return from the injured list and the team hopes to reach their best version in the final months of the season.