Braves out-slug Twins for the second night in a row in 8-6 extra innings win

For the second night in a row, the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins brought us a wild baseball game. This one was much more dramatic but in the end, Atlanta’s lineup brought the boom for the second night in a row as they powered their way to an 8-6 win over Minnesota.

I’m very happy to report that the bats stayed alive for the Braves after last night’s explosion of offense at Target Field. Atlanta didn’t have to wait long to put some runs on the board against Simeon Woods Richardson, as the second inning was a productive one for Atlanta. Matt Olson led off the inning with a double and that eventually set the stage for Michael Harris II to come to the plate with one out and a chance at an RBI. Money Mike cashed in not just Olson but himself as well, as he hit a 109-mph laser that just about stayed fair and landed in the fair portion of the seats in the right field patio. The dinger made it 2-0 and while this wasn’t a huge explosion like what we saw last night, it was still very encouraging to see both Olson and Harris keep up the good work with their bats.

Meanwhile, the Twins weren’t having a ton of trouble getting men on base against Spencer Schwellenbach. In fact, the Twins got two runners in scoring position with two out after Carlos Santana and Ryan Jeffers hit a single and a double, respectively, to get things going with two outs. However, Schwellenbach was able to walk the tightrope by striking out Austin Martin to end the inning. The good news is that Schwellenbach kept the Twins off the board but he was also over 50 pitches through two innings, so it was readily apparent that he wasn’t going to get deep into tonight’s game.

The Twins continued to hassle Schwellenbach while he was out there, as Minnesota had a runner in scoring position in each inning that he was out there past the first inning. However, Schwellenbach was able to prevent Minnesota from getting the big hit that would’ve gotten them on the scoreboard. Matt Wallner doubled with two outs in the third but Schwellenbach induced a ground ball to get out of it.

Carlos Santana and Max Kepler made it to second and third base, respectively, with just one out on the board in the fourth. Fortunately, Scwhellenbach got out of it after Whit Merrifield made a circus catch for the second out and then he struck out Austin Martin again on a foul tip to keep the Twins off the board once again.

Spencer Schwellenbach had a bit more breathing room in the fifth inning but this would end up being the end of his night, regardless. He got the first two outs of the frame with no problem but we ended up seeing something pretty rare as Schwellenbach walked two (2) straight batters to reach 106 pitches and the end of his road. Dylan Lee was called upon to clean up the mess and he did just that, as he struck out Royce Lewis to keep the Twins off of the scoreboard once again. It was a short night in terms of innings pitched for Schwellenbach but he pitched admirably and was able to do his job in terms of keeping the Twins off of the scoreboard by hook or by crook.

It also helped that he had received some more run support before he exited the game. Atlanta’s half of the fifth inning started with Ramón Laureano hitting a leadoff single and then he was joined on the basepaths by Orlando Arcia after he coaxed a walk out of Simeon Woods Richardson. Those two then combined for one of the least-likely double steal combos that you could think of when it comes to this particular ballclub. After Jorge Soler walked with two outs to load up the bases, that was the end of the night for Woods Richardson and it was up to Jorge Alcala to deal with Marcell Ozuna.

Alcala failed at that task, as Ozuna sent one hurtling over Willi Castro at short and into the grass in left field for a two-out, two-RBI single that made it a 4-0 lead for the Braves. After Scwhellenbach and Lee teamed up to keep it a four-run lead, the obvious hope was that Atlanta could cruise to victory after that.

Sadly, things would get mighty close and mighty interesting once the seventh inning rolled around. Jesse Chavez took the baton in the sixth inning and pitched a scoreless frame, so Brian Snitker decied to try to get his bullpen a bit more rest by keeping Chavez out there for the seventh as well. That immediately backfired as the Twins proceeded to lay the BABIP smackdown upon Chavez as they started the seventh with a single, a double and a single to make it 4-2 Braves. Joe Jiménez was called upon to put the fire out by leaning upon his slider to get the three outs — with his slider basically proving to be unhittable for Carlos Santana. However, the Twins did cut the deficit to one run after Edouard Julien welcomed Jiménez to the game with an RBI double that made it 4-3 so this game went from being comfortable to nervy in a hurry.

The Twins weren’t done, either. After the Braves went down quietly in the seventh inning, it sure seemed like Joe Jiménez was going to follow suit with a three-up, three-down inning of his own. That was not the case, as Willi Castro hit a double that got past Ramón Laureano in right field and Brian Snitker gave Jiménez the hook and sent Raisel Iglesias out there to face Trevor Larnach. Iglesias should’ve sat down Larnach on three straight pitches but his 95-mph fastball that was right over the plate was called a ball to make it a 1-1 count. Iglesias then gave Larnach a changeup out of the zone and blooped it between Jarred Kelenic and Michael Harris II in left-center for a game-tying RBI single. Iglesias struck out Matt Wallner immediately afterwards but that was a lame consolation prize considering that the game was back to being tied.

Atlanta went down in order in the ninth inning as well and it was up to Iglesias to send the game into extra innings. Perhaps because he was feeling like he got jobbed out a bit in the eighth inning (or perhaps because he’s just really, really good right now), Iglesias went out there and retired the Twins in short order in the ninth inning, ensuring that this game would head to extras. While it was extremely frustrating to see a four-run lead go up in smoke in the way that it did, the Braves were still in the game and that was all that mattered at this point.

Iglesias’ work ended up paying off in spades because the Braves proceeded to put up a crooked number in the 10th inning. At first, it seemed like this was going to be a frustrating frame after Marcell Ozuna hit a double that caused Austin Martin to hit the deck on the warning track while trying to field it. The frustrating part came because Kelenic somehow managed to not score on the play. However, things turned in Atlanta’s favor right after it as Kelenic proceeded to charge for home plate on a grounder from Matt Olson. Kelenic went in headfirst and the throw was high anyways, so he scored and the Braves were back in the lead.

Atlanta kept right on pouring it on, since they were now in a situation where they had a actual runner in scoring position instead of the Manfred Runner. Travis d’Arnaud took advantage of the situation by smacking one right up the middle to plate pinch runner Luke Williams to make it a 6-4 game. With one out on the board, Ramón Laureano came to the plate looking to do some damage and he did just that, as he took a 102-mph heater from Jhoan Duran and sent it into the gap in right single for a two-RBI double that cracked the game open once again. Atlanta added two more baserunners after this to load up the bases with one out but Caleb Thielbar managed to get Whit Merrifield to GIDP to mercifully end the inning for the Twins.

Now it was on Pierce Johnson to finish things off and it seemed like things would go smoothly after he got Carlos Santana and Ryan Jeffers for the first two outs. The 10th inning served as a microcosm for how the entire game went, as the Twins absolutely refused to go gentle into that good night. Minnesota proceeded to string together three-straight two-out singles to make it an 8-6 game and also bring the winning run to the plate. Johnson’s struggles were understandable considering that this was his third appearance in four days and so it was obvious that he was running on fumes while trying to finish Minnesota off. Fortunately, he was able to make it past the finish line as he managed to strike out Matt Wallner to end the game and give the Braves another high-scoring win.

For the second night in a row, Atlanta’s bats were able to carry the team to victory and that is certainly an encouraging sign. The pitching can’t be elite every night, so it’s been good to see Atlanta’s offense get going like they have over the past couple of nights. This was another wild one but the lineup stepped up their game when they needed it in order to put themselves too far in front for the Twins to reach.

The Braves are now 12 games over .500 for the first time since May, they’ve won their third-straight series on the trot and now they’ll have Chris Sale going tomorrow as they try to pick up their first sweep since June. It starts at 7:40 p.m. ET once again and y’all had better be there (with ‘there’ being either the ballpark or in front of your TV or radio) for it!