Twins 1, Dodgers 0: Scott Baker is Pretty Good at Baseball

Despite the series starting on an ugly (but historic!) note, the Twins managed to hold on the past two games to get the series win against the Dodgers at Target Field.

Today, it was Scott Baker that kept the Twins in the game, throwing a gem with 9 strike outs and only 1 walk. He went 7.1 innings, ensuring the bullpen would only get to pitch 1.2 innings. The offense didn't exactly shine today, but it was enough to give Baker and the Twins their second straight win.

Full recap after the jump.

The game started off pretty well for the Twins. In the first inning, Baker struck out the side and in the bottom of the inning, the Twins scored the only run they'd get all day. Ben Revere started the hitting with a leadoff triple, and Tsuyoshi Nishioka knocked him in with a sacrifice um...ground out to first base. It's been that kind of season, I guess.

The Twins would get more baserunners during the game, but wouldn't capitalize on any of their scoring chances. In fact, on the day, the Twins were 0-for-10 in RISP chances. Hooray!

Glen Perkins would come in to relieve Baker with one out in the 8th inning, striking out Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp (with a pretty nasty slider, I might add) to end the inning. Perk has been pretty dominant as of late, and today's results only added to his strong 2011 season totals. His ERA right now? 1.93.

Matt Capps came in in the 9th to close it out, and naturally allowed a hit before getting the last two outs and securing the Twins win.,

As for the Dodgers, they only managed 6 hits off of Baker all day, and were 0-for-4 in team RISP opportunities. The Twins were able to keep Matt Kemp fairly quiet today, only allowing a double to the hot hitter. De La Rosa was pretty good for the Dodgers today, going 7 innings and giving up only 6 hits. He did walk 2 batters, though they did no damage. Scott Elbert came on in relief of De La Rosa, walked a batter, and was promptly replaced by Blake Hawksworth (most literary name in baseball? Perhaps.), who finished the game for LA.

Notes
-Joe Mauer was 1-for-3 today, with a double, walk, and a strike out. Not a bad day for the Baby Jesus.

-Nishioka was 0-for-4 today, but had the game-winning RBI, so that's pretty neat.

-Delmon Young will be playing in Rochester on July 4th.

-Ben Revere had two hits today, and was intentionally walked. Yeah.

-Baker's 9 strike outs were enough to move him into 14th on the Twins all-time list.

Studs
-Scott Baker. Naturally.
-Ben Revere. 2 hits, IBB, SB, couple nice catches.
-Joe Mauer. He's getting better.
-Glen Perkins. Wow. Keep it up.

Duds
-Michael Cuddyer, Danny Valencia, Matt Tolbert. All 0-fer. Lame.

On to more winning!