Yasiel Puig, Juan Uribe lead Dodgers May Day parade over Twins

Yasiel Puig and Juan Uribe each had four hits and two RBI, leading the Dodgers to a 9-4 win over the Twins in the opener of a day-night doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at Target Field.

Puig's four hits tied a career high and he reached base five times in a game for the first time in his career, and over the last 10 games is 16-for-40 (.400) with three doubles, two home runs, a triple and 12 RBI. During that span he improved from .235/.350/.373 to .308/.394/.505.

Uribe was 4-for-5, his seventh game with three or more hits this season. Nobody else in MLB has more than five.

The duo led a 15-hit Dodger attack, with eight of the nine starters either scoring or driving in a run, or both. After reaching base 16 times in Wednesday night's win over Minnesota, the Dodgers reached base 21 times (15 hits, six walks) against Twins pitchers in Thursday's first game.

The Twins scored first on an RBI single by Jason Kubel to left field in the first inning, but it turned into two runs when Hanley Ramirez turned his back on Carl Crawford's throw back to the infield, then catcher Miguel Olivo made an errant throw for a 2-0 lead.

The Dodgers responded immediately by loading the bases in the second inning with nobody out. Minnesota starter Mike Pelfrey nearly escaped the jam, getting Crawford to ground out then inducing a would-be double play grounder from Dee Gordon.

But Gordon was able to beat the throw to first base, extending the inning and cutting the deficit to 2-1. Puig then followed with a two-run double to give the Dodgers the lead.

Two more runs came in the third when Matt Kemp doubled off the wall to score Adrian Gonzalez from first base, followed by an RBI single by Uribe.

Dan Haren settled down to retire 10 straight but ran into some trouble in the fifth inning. The first four Twins reached base against Haren, highlighted by a two-run single from Brian Dozier to cut the Dodgers' lead to just 5-4. The right-hander was able to escape the jam thanks to a tremendous double play by Hanley Ramirez using only his glove.

Haren was uncharacteristically wild with three walks on Thursday after just four unintentional walks in his first 31 innings. He didn't look long for the game in the fifth inning, but managed to retire six straight batters beginning with the double play, and pitched into the seventh inning for the second time in his last three starts. Haren struck out seven to improve to 4-0 on the season.

Chris Perez entered with an 8-4 lead with two outs in the eighth, but with two on base the tying run was on deck, making this a save situation. He recorded the final five outs of the game to give Kenley Jansen a game off.

It was the first five-out save by a Dodger since Paco Rodriguez on Aug. 5, 2013 in St. Louis.

Notes

Puig has reached base in his last seven plate appearances. That's halfway to the franchise record of 14, set by Pedro Guerrero from July 23-26, 1985.

The Dodgers stole two bases on Thursday, giving them a major league best 29 steals. Their 82.9% success rate ranks third in the majors this season. Pelfrey since the beginning of 2011 has allowed 46 steals in 52 attempts (88.5%).

Gonzalez walked in each of his first three plate appearances, the 16th game of three or more walks in his career. He walked four times in a game once, on June 19, 2009 for San Diego against Oakland.

Olivo in his first game as a Dodger was 2-for-3 with a walk and a sacrifice fly, scoring once and driving in two. Dodgers catchers are 9-for-31 (.290) with four walks and a double in their last nine games.

Olivo entered play Thursday with 157 walks in his 12-year career, a 3.96% rate that ranked 638th among the 648 major leaguers with at least 1,000 plate appearances during that span. Naturally, in his first plate appearance as a Dodger, Olivo walked.

Haren has allowed seven unearned runs in 37⅔ innings this season. The rest of the starting staff combined has allowed six unearned runs in 125⅓ innings.

Up next

These two teams are back at it at 4 p.m. PT with the second game of the day-night doubleheader. Red Patterson will make his major league debut for the Dodgers, facing southpaw Kris Johnson, making his Twins debut in a battle of 26th men.

Game 1 particulars

Home runs: none

WP - Dan Haren (4-0): 6⅔ IP, 6 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 3 walks, 7 strikeouts

LP - Mike Pelfrey (0-3): 4 IP, 7 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts

Sv - Chris Perez (1): 1⅔ IP, 2 strikeouts