Minneapolis – The Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup is a challenge for any MLB starter in 2026, and that was the case for Zebby Matthews on Monday night in a game the Minnesota Twins lost 2-1.
Two pitches into the start, international superstar Shohei Ohtani hit a changeup Matthews threw right down the middle over the left field bleachers at 112.8 MPH to make it a 1-0 game.
“There’s a reason he makes as much money as he does and why he’s one of the greatest to do it,” Matthews said on Ohtani’s home run. “But yeah, able to bounce back well and then the second, third AB, keep’em off balance enough. But yeah, would like to have that first one back for sure.”
Zebby Matthews retired the next three in order on only 13 pitches. Byron Buxton responded by hitting a solo home run in Minnesota’s half of the first to tie it 1-1. From there on out, it became a pitchers’ duel between Matthews and the Dodgers’ bullpen.
After Buxton’s homer and a single from Royce Lewis in the first, the Twins went hitless against Dodgers long man Eric Lauer, who threw six no-hit innings against them. The Twins struggled to hit anything hard or not directly at a fielder.
The last time the Twins saw Lauer, he was in a Toronto Blue Jays uniform. They tagged him for seven runs off of five walks and five hits, including two home runs from Brooks Lee and Trevor Larnach. Since joining the Dodgers on May 19, Lauer has looked like a completely different pitcher, and the Twins got some of the best of his new version Monday night.
“He got to a different organization, he’s changed,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton. “I think the thing that made him effective today was the ability to execute the cutter inside to right-handers, and then threw the four-seam fastball off it.”
Before this season, Matthews had never thrown over 100 pitches in 25 MLB career starts. He hit 100 for the first time in his second start against the Houston Astros on May 19, then threw 100 in back-to-back starts on May 31 and June 5.
Matthews made it into the sixth inning Monday night and finished at 108 pitches after striking out Dodgers catcher Chuckie Robinson to end the inning.
Even after allowing a Freddie Freeman home run to start the inning, Zebby Matthews responded well to giving up home runs, which hasn’t been the case all season.
“He gave us a chance to win, and I think that’s all you can ask out of your starting pitchers, just give us a chance to win,” said Shelton. “[Matthews] did that. He gave up two runs. Execution of pitches, I mean I think we see him continue to get better and better with his starts.”
“[I’m] just trying to execute pitches,” Matthews said. “When runners get on, or there’s traffic or whatever, just trying to slow the game down as much as possible and really focus on that next pitch and executing, regardless of the runners or whoever’s at the plate, let’s get them out.”
Ryan scratched, Abel dealing with elbow inflammation
Twins manager announced postgame that Joe Ryan, who the Twins had scheduled to start Tuesday night’s game, had been scratched with an illness. Kendry Rojas will make the start in his place.
Mick Abel, who had an MRI Monday afternoon, has swelling in his right elbow joint, the same as he had before in April when the Twins first put him on the IL. Minnesota will send Abel to see Dr. Keith Meister for a second opinion before making any decisions about his next steps.
