Braves at Twins
Miguel Sano has struggled through a difficult season, but he delivered the biggest blow off the bench to give the Minnesota Twins an opportunity to clinch a series victory Tuesday at home against the Atlanta Braves. The Twins infielder, who's hitting .241 in 63 games after batting .199 last season, belted a two-run pinch-hit homer to lift Minnesota to a 5-3 victory Monday, snapping a 2-for-19 slump and giving him just his 20th hit in 107 at-bats at home in 2019.
The American League Central-leading Twins homered twice in the game - getting Max Kepler’s 31st of the season in the fifth before Sano’s 19th won the game - to give them a big-league best 219 longballs on the season, moving Minnesota within six of its franchise record of 225 homers set in 1963. The NL East-leading Braves once again had their newly-acquired bullpen pieces wobble in the late innings, as one day after new closer Shane Greene gave up a game-winning homer in the 10th inning it was Chris Martin serving up Sano’s blast to hand Atlanta its third loss in the past four games. Atlanta third baseman Josh Donaldson extended his hitting streak to eight games with two hits, including a game-tying single in the seventh inning, and he is hitting .323 with three homers during the streak. First baseman Freddie Freeman homered and drew a walk, his 18th free pass in 23 games since the All-Star break for the Braves.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FS Southeast (Atlanta), FS North (Minnesota)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Braves RH Mike Foltynewicz (2-5, 6.37 ERA) vs. Twins RH Jose Berrios (10-5, 2.80)
Foltynewicz won 13 games and made the All-Star team during a breakthrough 2018, but never recovered from an elbow injury suffered in spring training and eventually was demoted to Triple-A Gwinnett after allowing four runs or more seven times in 11 starts. The 27-year-old struck out 31 while walking eight in 33 2/3 innings across six starts after the demotion, and in his final three outings pitched to a 1.13 ERA with 10 hits and 12 strikeouts in 16 innings. Foltynewicz finished last season with a 2.85 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 31 starts, striking out 202 in 183 innings.
Berrios earned his second straight trip to the All-Star game and has pitched outstanding in four starts since the break, allowing five earned runs on 19 hits in 24 2/3 innings. The 25-year-old has posted a 1.82 ERA in that span with 29 strikeouts and seven walks, firing seven shutout innings Wednesday at Miami with two hits allowed, no walks and a season-high 11 strikeouts. Berrios, who is third in the AL in ERA, fourth in quality starts (16) and sixth in WHIP (1.10), has a 2.23 ERA across his past 10 outings and in nine home starts is 5-2 with a 2.10 ERA and 1.13 WHIP.
WALK-OFFS
1. Twins DH Nelson Cruz, who boasts 30 homers on the season and 390 for his career, has never homered against the Braves.
2. Minnesota rookie INF-OF Luis Arraez went 2-for-4 with two RBIs Monday, and is hitting .356 in 47 games this season with 30 runs scored and 11 RBIs.
3. Atlanta SS Johan Camargo went 0-for-3 with a walk Monday, extending his slump to 5-for-44 in his past 14 games.