Atlanta Braves Take Down Red Hot Minnesota Twins, 2-0

Braves Blanket Twins, 2-0

Who’s ready to rumble?!?!  The epic battle of the two worst teams in the MLB.  The Atlanta Braves took on the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday in game one of their two-game series.  The 37-61 Twins met their master on this night as the 33-66 Bravos took them down.

The Twins have won 12 of their last 19 ball games and came into this game probably expecting to dominant the Braves.  Nope!

Atlanta got things going early as Adonis Garcia blasted a solo homer to left field in the top of the 2nd inning.  The Twins starting pitcher, and former Brave, Ervin Santana actually pitched a fantastic game…but that’s beside the point.  Garcia hit his eighth home run of the 2016 season.

How about we add another run…to lead off the top of the 3rd inning, A.J. Pierzynski hit a double right down the first base line…okay, maybe it was a foul, but with as many calls not go our way, we might as well take this.  The ball bounced (maybe twice into foul territory) off the foul wall and back into fair territory.  The big man catcher legged out his 11 double of the season.  Erick Aybar followed that double with a single to center…Braves are in business with two on, no outs!

Jace Peterson was up next, but on the first pitch, he grounded into a double play.  Though this put two outs on the board, it also scored Pierzynski.  Braves are now up 2-0.

Atlanta’s offense totaled seven hits on the night with Garcia having two.  It was kinda cool seeing a DH in the Braves lineup.  Not that it helped, Nick Markakis went 0-4 on the night…but it could have helped, right?

The Mound Wizard 

Braves starter, Lucas Harrell shut the Twins down!  He pitched six complete innings, giving up four hits, no runs, three walks and had four strikeouts.  This was his fifth start with Atlanta for 31-year-old and tonight he looked like he did in his first two starts.

Does Harrell remind anyone else like Brandon Beachy?  They have a similar demeanor on the mound and throw to the plate similar in my opinion.

I will say this though, if teams were calling about a possible trade candidate in Harrell, they sure will be calling after this start.

“He was in trouble a lot, but made the pitches like he’s been doing,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Harrell.  “He kept battling and never quits.”

Who Says Our Bullpen Lacks?

Mauricio Cabrera, Hunter Cervenka, Chris Withrow and Jim Johnson finished off what Harrell started for the Braves.  These four bullpen pitchers pitched three innings, giving up only one hit, zero walks and had four strikeouts.

Cabrera gave up a double to Kurt Suzuki in the 7th inning, but then shut the Twins down.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in him,” Snitker said of Cabrera.  “We’ll continue to put him in late in the game.  I probably would have went to him in the 6th inning if Lucas got a base runner on.”

Johnson picked up his third save of the 2016 season and continues to dominate AL hitters.  Trade bait?

Jace Has Wings

Did you see the catch from Jace Peterson in left field??

Incredible play by a guy that’s being asked to play in a position that he’s never played in his professional career prior to 2016.  Oh yeah, he’s our leadoff guy and he’s batting .264 in 2016.  Not shabby from a guy we weren’t sure where he would be heading into the season.

Anyhow, did I mention the Braves won?  Yessir!

Braves take the victory 2-0 and improve to 3-8 after the All-Star break.  We’ll see you back on the field Wednesday at 8:10pm ET with Mike Foltynewicz on the mound for the Braves and Tyler Duffey for the Twins.