Atlanta Braves at Minnesota Twins

· Major League Baseball

Atlanta Braves

73-60, 37-32 Away

Final
5 - 1

Minnesota Twins

72-61, 37-29 Home

Braves beat skidding Twins 5-1 for 3-game sweep, as Sale notches 15th win and Soler shines

Sale (15-3) continued his comeback season by stretching his streak of allowing two earned runs or fewer to 14 straight starts. Sale had six strikeouts to match San Diego's Dylan Cease for the major league lead with 197 this year and set a single-season Braves franchise record for a left-hander.

“Being on a new team and having an opportunity to have a fresh start, it’s been fun,” said Sale, who earned an eighth All-Star selection after the last five seasons in Boston were largely spoiled by injuries. "It’s a very loose clubhouse. It’s an easy place to kind of come in and mesh, so just trying to do my job.”

Matt Olson hit an RBI double and Luke Williams added a two-run double in a four-run seventh that broke the game open against Minnesota's beleaguered bullpen and propelled the Braves (73-60) to their ninth win in their last 11 games. They moved within five games of NL East leader Philadelphia, where they conveniently start a four-game series Thursday night.

Atlanta hasn’t been closer than five games to the Phillies since May 18.

“It’s a good time to have a happy flight,” Sale said.

Sale lowered his ERA to 2.58, currently the best in MLB, at the expense of the Twins (72-61), who fell 3 1/2 games behind AL Central leader Cleveland. Kansas City is one game back. Minnesota has a three-game lead on Boston for the final wild card spot.

The Twins had runners at second and third with no outs and the bases loaded with one out, but they failed to score in the fourth when Sale delivered two strikeouts and an inning-ending groundout.

“That’s, to me, why that guy’s the front-runner for the Cy Young,” manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s unbelievable when he gets his back to the wall like that, how he reaches back and can find a way to get out of it. That’s why he’s got 15 wins.”

Twins rookie David Festa (2-4) had his finest start to date spoiled by Sale and Soler.

The right-hander struck out seven batters in a career-high six innings, with one run allowed on two hits and one walk. That came by Marcell Ozuna leading off the seventh in a 1-1 game, prompting manager Rocco Baldelli to pull Festa for lefty Caleb Thielbar. Thielbar lost the lead, and Jorge Alcala let it grow.

“I probably won’t sleep much tonight, honestly. Just can’t lose him there," Festa said, lamenting the walk. “I was confident I was going to put him away.”

Festa could have easily taken a lead into the seventh inning. The Twins got only one run across in the sixth despite four hits and three straight to start the frame.

Manny Margot was waved in by third base coach Tommy Watkins on a single by Ryan Jeffers and easily thrown out by Soler from right field for the first out. Jose Miranda hit a single in the next at-bat, and the Twins finally got on the board with Castro's two-out single.

Braves: RHP Charlie Morton (7-7, 4.24 ERA) takes the mound Thursday night in Philadelphia. LHP Cristopher Sánchez (9-9, 3.51 ERA) pitches for the Phillies.

Twins: After a day off on Thursday, RHP Pablo López (12-8, 4.26 ERA) starts Friday night to begin a three-game series against Toronto. RHP Kevin Gausman (12-9, 4.10 ERA) pitches for the Blue Jays.

How can I watch Atlanta Braves vs. Minnesota Twins?

TV Channel: Braves at Twins 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Twins: 45.2%

Braves: 54.8%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Larnach flied out to left.
	9th Inning	Wallner doubled to right.
	9th Inning	Julien grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Vázquez flied out to left.
	9th Inning	Iglesias relieved Jiménez
	9th Inning	Merrifield flied out to center.

Statistics

ATL		MIN
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
11	Ground Balls	11
12	Strikeouts	11
5	Runs Batted In	1
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
8	Hits	7
0	Stolen Bases	0
2	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
5	Runs	1
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
35	At Bats	33
1	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
11	Runners Left On Base	17
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	3
12	Fly Balls	11
0	Caught Stealing	0
156	Pitches	156
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
14	Total Bases	10
37	Plate Appearances	36
162.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
4	Extra Base Hits	3
3.8	Runs Created	2.8
.229	Batting Average	.212
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.400	Slugging Percentage	.303
.229	Secondary Average	.182
.270	On Base Percentage	.278
.670	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.581
0.9	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.0
3.8	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	3.0
37.0	Batter Rating	17.0
35.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.22	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.33
.171	Isolated Power	.091
0.17	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.27
.054	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.083
.000	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.030
10.0	Runs Produced	2.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.4
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.3
81.8	MLB Rating	69.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0