LOS ANGELES — Brian Dozier's first game with his new team certainly was an eventful one.
The second baseman, traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday after spending his entire career with the Twins, earned a curtain call with a tying home run in the fifth inning Wednesday night, one of his three hits in a 6-4, 10-inning victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium.
Dozier was in the on-deck circle when Los Angeles catcher Yasmani Grandal ended the game with his second home run of the night, a two-run, walkoff blast off Matt Albers.
"It was a fun game," he said, "especially after the home run and curtain call. That was pretty cool."
Dozier also was partially responsible for Milwaukee's first run. Lorenzo Cain led off the game with a triple, and in trying to throw Cain out at third, Dozier's relay throw bounced to third baseman Manny Machado and into the stands, enabling Cain to walk home.
Milwaukee righthander Chase Anderson threw four perfect innings, but the Dodgers tied the score 2-2 in the fifth on back-to-back homers by Grandal and Dozier, who drove a fastball over the center-field fence at Dodger Stadium. Dozier earned a curtain call after the blast.
In the seventh, Dozier led off with a single, advanced to second on a one-out walk to Chris Taylor and came around to score on an RBI single by Yasiel Puig, giving Los Angeles a 3-2 lead.
An inning later, after Milwaukee had tied the score 4-4, Dozier nearly was the hero again. But with two out and Grandal on first, Dozier's drive to left bounced into the stands, keeping Grandal at first. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, newly acquired Brewers third baseman Mike Moustakas made a diving stop and threw out Chris Taylor, keeping the score tied.
Dozier joins a Dodgers team in the thick of a tight NL playoff race. Los Angeles is battling Arizona and Colorado for the NL West title and a number of other clubs, including the Brewers, for one of two wild cards.
"Love the way he plays the game," Roberts said of Dozier. "He's a hard-nosed player. I think there's more of that to come."
Half the infielders in this game were acquired in late July from AL teams: Dozier and Machado on the Dodgers, Moustakas and Jonathan Schoop on the Brewers. Schoop, the second baseman making his Milwaukee debut after joining Machado as a veteran traded away by Baltimore, went hitless in five at-bats, including three strikeouts.
Dozier was traded at Tuesday's nonwaiver trade deadline, the fifth veteran player traded by the Twins over a span of four days. All but one are free agents after the season. Dozier, a 2015 All-Star who hit 42 home runs in 2016, was hitting .224 with 16 homers and 52 RBI in 104 games with the Twins.
