Atlanta Braves Best Twins Thanks to Freddie Freeman’s Big Night

I empathize, Twins fans. I really do.

The Atlanta Braves had already picked up a win before they even took the field Wednesday night against the Twins. Turning Lucas Harrell and Dario Alvarez—two guys who wandered in off the street, essentially—into an honest-to-goodness prospect was John Copplella’s best bit of sorcery yet.

Travis Demeritte was the starting second baseman for the United States in the MLB Futures game a couple of weeks ago—opposite Dansby Swanson. Harrell was released by Detroit May 16, Alvarez by the Mets nine days later. Suddenly, that’s the going rate for a potential right-handed power bat ranked 20^th by MLB.com in Texas’ organizational rankings.

That was the good news. The bad news was this tweet from The Notorious DOB.

That included being down two pitchers. Talk about a bad omen—after that, you just knew the Braves would need the bullpen.

Fortunately, so would the Twins. And they’d need it a lot more.

Look, I know bad baseball—watching the Braves this year has made me something of an expert. And the Twins are bad. Bless Tyler Duffey and his flat fastball and his knuckle-curve that refused to knuckle or curve, but the Twins didn’t stand a chance with him out there.

Duffey surrendered five runs while recording four outs, including a two-run bomb by Jeff Francoeur in the first inning.

"Jeff Francoeur is just being extra sure he doesn’t have to pitch tonight with this monster home run… #ChopOnhttps://t.co/SnEZB1BSF6— FOX Sports Southeast (@FOXSportsSE) July 28, 2016"

That came after Gordon Beckham doubled home Jace Peterson and came around on a Freddie Freeman single.

Freeman’s run-scoring single in the second chased Duffey from the game—at 1.1 innings, it was the shortest outing by an opposing starter against the Braves in 2016, which can’t bode well for Duffey’s long-term future in this game. Freeman, who posted a monster game just by his work in the first four innings, hit a two-run blast to dead center in the fourth to make it 7-0 Atlanta. Should be plenty of room for Mike Foltynewicz to work with, right?

Right?

Folty gave three back in the bottom of the fourth, first on an Eddie Rosario double followed by a Kurt Suzuki two-run home run. The Twins picked up two more in the fifth thanks to a two-run Miguel Sano single that scored Eduardo Nunez and Joe Mauer.

Freeman—again—doubled in the fifth, scoring Beckham to give Atlanta a little more breathing room. But Foltynewicz—having already surrendered nine hits and five runs—was sent back out to start the sixth and promptly surrendered singles to Robbie Grossman, Danny Santana and Nunez, the last scoring Grossman.

Folty was finally—mercifully—lifted after that, although Mauer would eventually drive in Santana on a groundout. Folty’s final line—5.1 innings, 12 hits, 7 runs (6 earned) and just three strikeouts—wasn’t bad like Duffey’s line but did represent the most earned runs he’s given up this season.

Down an arm in the bullpen, it made some level of sense for Brian Snitker to maximize Folty’s evening, such as it was. But Ian Krol had been warming up since early in the fifth, and was ready to go in the event Folty faltered out of the gate in the sixth—which he did. Not sure why a move wasn’t made earlier in the frame.

Regardless, the 8-7 score stood through the seventh despite Mauricio Cabrera putting Rosario on second after a single and wild pitch. In the eighth, Atlanta put two aboard with nobody out before Beckham grounded into a 5-3 double-play on a strong play by Miguel Sano and an equally excellent scoop by Mauer at first. Following an intentional walk to Freeman, Nick Markakis poked a first-pitch single into center to plate Peterson and give Atlanta some breathing room.

Things could’ve soured for Atlanta in the home half, except the defense came up huge behind Chris Withrow. Suzuki (Adonis Garcia error) and Santana (walk) reached base, but Freeman’s heads-up play on Nunez’s bunt attempt was enough to get Suzuki at third and Peterson made a tremendous diving stop on a Mauer grounder to not only get his man at first but keep the runners from scoring–Santana surely would’ve headed for the plate if the ball had gotten out of the infield. Withrow exited the jam by striking out Sano on three pitches.

Jim Johnson slammed the door for the Braves, who picked up their first series sweep (albeit in a short two-gamer) since June 17-19 against the Mets.

The story here was Freeman, who was 4-for-4 with a career-high tying five RBI. If you also had Freeman and Francoeur hitting a homer and stealing a base in the same game in the Year of our Lord 2016, contact Alan Carpenter for your prize.

Next: An Embarrassment of Pitching Riches

So ends a 10-day road trip for Atlanta, during which the Braves went 3-6. Young guns Matt Wisler and Aaron Nola will battle at the Ted, 7:10 p.m. (ET), Thursday.