Oh My Gattis, The Story Continues!

The Atlanta Braves took on the Minnesota Twins in their second interleague game of the series on a all in all weird game on Tuesday night.  The Braves got the game going in the bottom of the 1st inning when Jason Heyward singled followed by a double by Freddie Freeman, scoring Heyward.  Then Brian McCann drove Freeman in with a single, making the game 2-0 with Tim Hudson on the mound.

May 21, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves catcher Evan Gattis (24) hits a game tying home run against the Minnesota Twins during the ninth inning at Turner Field. The Braves defeated the Twins 5-4 in ten innings. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Hudson gave up a hit to Justin Morneau in the top of the second that led to an RBI single by Pedro Florimon.  In the top of the third inning, Hudson would face Morneau again with two runners on base and Morneau capitalized.  Tying the game 2-2, Morneau singled in Joe Mauer.

But during the third inning, a strange storm cell popped out of nowhere (the weathermen didn’t call for rain…what’s new, they got it wrong).  The umpires wasted no time calling for the ground crew to put the tarp on the field, but they struggled to get the tarp over the infield because of blinding rain and whipping winds.  Then as the storm was beginning to let up, a power surge knocked out the lights and video board.  The board came back on in a matter of seconds, but the lights took much longer to fire back up.

After over an hour break, everything started to settle back in and the fans made their way back to their seats, Hudson came back in to go 5 innings giving up two runs off five hits and had five strikeouts.

McCann blasted a homerun in the bottom of the 4th inning (he went 3-4 and has raised his batting average to .282).

We went scoreless until the top of the 8th inning when Braves pitcher Luis Avilan gave up two runs.  This put the Twins up 4-3 and by the look of him, a very angry Fredi Gonzalez.

But then the magic happened for the Braves.  In the bottom of the 9th inning, with two outs and facing the Twins closers Glen Perkins who was 8-8 in save chances in 2013, Evan Gattis walks to the plate as a pinch hitter.  After the game Freddie Freeman said “When I saw him going up there to hit, I had a feeling we were going to be playing a little longer.”

Freeman was correct, in the bottom of the 9th inning, Gattis blasts a 0-1 pitch over the left field wall for his third pinch hit home run of the season!  Later Gattis explained his at bat “I was trying to hit the ball hard, I don’t try to hit home runs. It just happened.”

After Gattis tied the game in the bottom of the 9th inning, Freeman singled in Heyward in the 10th to win the game for the Braves!  Freeman went on to say “It wasn’t the prettiest swing, but it got the job done.”

The Braves have won the first of two games in this series and look to go for back to back series sweeps on Wednesday.  The game starts at 12:10PM ET at Tuner Field.