Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman each hit solo home runs to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night at Target Field.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Dodgers.
Ohtani opened the game with a 414-foot leadoff home run on the second pitch from Twins starter Zebby Matthews.
Byron Buxton answered for Minnesota with a solo shot in the bottom of the first inning.
Freeman broke the tie in the sixth with his solo homer.
Dodgers reliever Eric Lauer earned the win by tossing six hitless innings after opener Will Klein allowed Buxton's home run.
Tanner Scott secured his 10th save.
The Dodgers lost outfielder Kyle Tucker to lower back spasms and catcher Dalton Rushing to a concussion check.
Minnesota's offense managed only three hits and failed to advance any runner past first base against Lauer, who issued three walks and struck out two.
Matthews took the loss, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks over six innings while striking out five on a career-high 108 pitches.
"The two home runs I gave up, fell behind both (Ohtani) and Freddie but I really feel like in order to have success against this lineup (I need) to get ahead, keep them off balance.
Wasn’t able to do that on those two ABs but able to work around it," Matthews said.
The Minnesota starter noted that Freeman's decisive homer came after he fell behind in the count and missed his spot.
"It was a cutter that kind of backed up on me. It wasn’t a great pitch.
There’s a reason he’s Freddie Freeman, he doesn’t miss those. Had the execution been a little better, maybe a different result.
But it wasn’t the best pitch and he didn’t miss it," Matthews said.
Twins manager Derek Shelton praised Lauer's improvement since his time with the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this season.
"He’s changed. He got to a different organization, he’s changed," Shelton said.
Shelton highlighted Lauer's effective use of the cutter inside to right-handers and the four-seam fastball off it.
The three-game series continues Tuesday evening at Target Field, with Kendry Rojas starting for Minnesota due to Joe Ryan's illness and Justin Wrobleski pitching for Los Angeles.
