Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: We Beat the Twins!

It was “must-see TV” in Minneapolis as the Atlanta Braves took on the Twins as part of a highly-anticipated head-to-head series to help determine the first draft pick recipient 10+ months from now.  Round 1 goes to the Braves.

The way things are going this season, it was probably a scenario in which the Twins didn’t entirely mind the loss.  Sure, they get closer to Atlanta (still 3.5 games clear with the 2nd worst record overall), but they also had an excellent outing from Ervin Santana in what could have been a good enough showcase start to get him traded this week.

Santana went the full 9 innings, giving up just 7 hits.  He made one true mistake – te homer to Adonis Garcia, but with no walks and 5 punchouts, there really wasn’t anything else to complain about.  He even received a game score of 70… higher than that of winner Lucas Harrell‘s 65.

Santana’s ERA was lowered to 3.78… and that could have been better had his defense not opted to trade a run for a double play early on.  Good on him.

Meanwhile, Lucas Harrell didn’t do himself any (trade) harm, either, with a nice bounce back outing – scattering 4 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings while allowing no one to score.  His ERA is now at 3.38.

A sigh of relief was also evident last night as the Atlanta bullpen provided … relief.  1 hit, 4 strikeouts and no walks allowed over 3 innings between Mauricio Cabrera, Hunter Cervenka, Chris Withrow, and Jim Johnson.

But the Atlanta bats remain colder than an iced tea in the middle of Summer… the lower half of the order being responsible for almost all production last night.

It’s Folty time on Wednesday (3-4, 3.79):  he’ll face off against Matt Duffy (5-7, 5.71).  8:10pm at Target Field.

Next: Political Cost