Braves pick up another win in team effort, 4-3 over Minnesota

The Braves picked up the series victory and their first stretch of winning more than one game in a row this season.

Looking for their first consecutive win of the season, the Braves were hoping that Chris Sale could find some better luck and results than he has had so far this season in game 2 against the Twins.

The game started inauspiciously, as a Byron Buxton swinging bunt turned into a single and eventually the game’s first run, via a .460 xBA double. Sale battled back to hold the Twins there, with two strikeouts. The Braves’ offense picked Sale up against the Twins’ opener in the bottom of the frame, however, as Alex Verdugo led the frame off with a line drive single and another single from Ozuna and a double off the wall (that would have been a homer in 17 parks) from Olson brought him around to score, tying the game 1-1 on Matt’s 1000th career hit. Ozzie and Sean Murphy were unable to bring another run across, leaving the game tied going into the second inning.

Sale worked an easy 1-2-3 second with two strikeouts and the original Twins’ starter, Woods Richardson came in and matched Sale’s inning against the bottom of the Braves’ order. Sale worked around a Buxton triple and a walk for another scoreless inning with two strikeouts in the third an the top of the Atlanta offense got busy again in the bottom of the frame, as Verdugo led the inning off with a double and Austin Riley absolutely smoked a line drive single that Verdugo couldn’t score on, as Bader made an (unsuccessful) diving attempt to catch the laser off Austin’s bat. Matt Olson came through with the RBI again, as he lined a ball to left field to bring home Verdugo. An Ozzie ground ball moved the runners to second and third and Sean Murphy was hit on the hand with a pitch (because of course he was) to load the bases, but Michael Harris popped out to end the inning with only one run scored. Unfortunately, Carlos Correa got to Sale for a solo homer to tie the game back up in the top of the fourth, but some nice defense from Nick Allen and two more strikeouts helped him work around an unlucky single to hold the tie.

Nick Allen worked a fantastic 9 pitch walk to lead off the home fourth with a baserunner before Kelenic had a barreled out fall into Buxton’s glove on the warning track in straightaway center in an ultimately scoreless frame. Chris Sale allowed a leadoff single to Byron Buxton in the fifth and got a flyout before losing his command, issuing two straight walks on 9 pitches and ultimately ending his outing with the bases loaded. Rafael Montero got the call from the bullpen and did a fantastic job, striking out Correa and Bader to preserve the tie. Chris Sale looked pretty good on the whole tonight, as he recorded 8 strikeouts over 4.1 innings, but he did allow a homer, issued 3 walks on the evening, and continued to suffer from some fairly absurd BABIP luck (.500 on the evening). One thing to keep an eye on, as Mark Bowman points out, is that Sale’s velo perhaps dropped a bit in his final frame.

Marcell scalded a single to lead off the home fifth, but Atlanta’s offense was unable to do anything after that. Montero started the sixth and issued a leadoff walk and got a pop out before a hit and run on a soft ground ball put runners on the corners with one out, ending Montero’s outing. Pierce Johnson got the call and allowed two well-hit balls to deep center that Michael Harris made nice plays on, but one functioned as a go-ahead sac fly, giving the Twins a 3-2 lead. Harris made another nice play to lead off the home sixth, as he absolutely launched a solo homer 446 ft. at 108.9 MPH to tie the game right back up.

Nick Allen singled and Jarred Kelenic just missed another homer, but instead hit a ball off the top of the chop house wall and was thrown out on a fantastic field, throw, and tag at second, landing Allen on third at least, with one out. Alex Verdugo delivered with is third hit of the night with an RBI single to give the Braves the lead again. The seventh and eighth were fairly quiet for both teams, although soft Verdugo double (for his fourth hit of the game) almost turned into a run, as a barrel off the bat of Austin Riley went right to the Minnesota left-fielder.

Raisel Iglesias came in to close out what Atlanta hoped would be their first consecutive win of the season and a series victory. Iglesias had a pretty smooth inning with a little luck, as he recorded two contact outs and then struck out Keaschall for the final out.

Join us again tomorrow as Atlanta goes for the sweep at 1:35 PM ET, with Grant Holmes on the mound.