A four-run first inning was enough to put the Braves in a hole they never climbed out of Monday night, and Atlanta’s 4-2 loss to the Twins at Target Field had the familiar shape of a game where the early damage and the missing home run power told the whole story.
The night started with a 45-minute rain delay, then Atlanta forced Bailey Ober to work. Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II both singled in the opening frame, but Mauricio Dubon ended the inning with a weak foul out to right after eight pitches.
From there, the Twins found the kind of crooked inning that can turn a game fast: a soft double, two walks, a bloop double that barely kissed the chalk, another soft bloop, and a slow roller that just had to be placed in the right spot. Add it up and it was four runs on Martin Perez, with the Braves unable to get the break they needed from the ball in play.
Perez settled in after that rough start, allowing little the rest of the way. The Twins didn’t do much more offensively, but Atlanta couldn’t answer either.
Perez worked five innings with a 3/2 K/BB ratio, and after the two walks to the second and third hitters he faced, he didn’t issue another. Victor Mederos handled the sixth with a 1-2-3 inning, then Tyler Kinley entered, hit a batter, walked another, and turned the ball over to Ray Kerr.
Kerr, making his first MLB appearance since June 15, 2024, threw one pitch to Kody Clemens - a sinker down the middle that became a groundout - and then stayed in for the eighth. Minnesota loaded the bases again with no outs on a hit-by-pitch, a single, and a bunt that Kerr threw too high for Ozzie Albies to handle cleanly at first, but Atlanta escaped without allowing a run thanks to two pop-outs and a groundout.
Offensively, the Braves had chances without ever really cashing in until the middle innings. They kept making Ober work early, but the damage never matched the pitch count.
After the first inning, Atlanta got a leadoff single in the second and a two-out walk in the third, then came up empty both times. The breakthrough finally came in the fifth when Austin Riley singled, Baldwin doubled down the right-field line, and Ronald Acuña Jr. lined a 2-1 fastball at 85.6 mph down the left-field line to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Minnesota immediately went to lefty Taylor Rogers, and Atlanta’s rally ended with two fly balls to the outfield.
The middle and late innings stayed frustrating. Travis Adams retired the Braves in order in the sixth and seventh. In the eighth, Olson reached with a dribbler down the right-field line for a double, Harris followed with a hard grounder that Kody Clemens turned into a diving stop and accurate throw, and after Hoffman walked Dubon, Albies lifted a weak fly ball the other way to end it.
The ninth offered one last opening against Yoendrys Gomez after he walked Mike Yastrzemski to start the frame. Riley bounced out, pinch-hitter Dominic Smith lifted a ball to the opposite field that stayed too high, and Baldwin ended up providing Atlanta’s only barrel of the night - but it went to left field for an easy out. In all, seven Braves opposite-field fly balls became outs, including four that could have changed the game if they had found grass.
The defeat didn’t do much damage in the standings. The Phillies beat the Marlins in a one-run game, trimming Atlanta’s division lead to 6.5 games, and the Dodgers’ win over the Rockies moved them into the second seed.
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