MINNEAPOLIS -- The Atlanta Braves left Target Field on Wednesday with a sweep hanging over them and another late-game frustration to sort through, this time in a 6-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins that featured Walt Weiss’s eighth-inning ejection and a comeback that never quite got over the hump.
For a few innings, though, the day belonged to AJ Smith-Shawver. In just his second Major League start and 14 months after Tommy John surgery, the 23-year-old right-hander gave Atlanta a look at the kind of arm that can change a game. He worked four solid innings before the fifth unraveled, finishing with four runs allowed on five hits and three walks over 4 1/3 innings, with three strikeouts on 75 pitches.
Smith-Shawver opened with velocity and movement. His four-seam fastball reached 97.6 mph, and he paired it with a splitter and sinker that kept Minnesota honest early. He even escaped a dangerous third inning, when the Twins had the bases loaded and had already pushed across a run, by getting Josh Bell to roll into a 3-6-1 double play.
"I thought that location on the sinker today was [good], and whenever I throw my splitter like I did today in those early innings, it's hard to kind of combo those," Smith-Shawver said of his mix. "Those combo well and look pretty similar, so it's a good add-on and I think it protects my four-seam a little bit, too."
Then came the fifth, where the command slipped. After Victor Caratini popped out, Smith-Shawver gave up back-to-back singles and then back-to-back walks, with the last free pass forcing in a run and ending his afternoon. Dylan Dodd took over and immediately ran into trouble, allowing a two-run double to Kody Clemens that pushed Minnesota ahead 4-1 before Atlanta later clawed back.
"I thought he came out looking good, looking sharp," Weiss said. "Fifth inning, I think the stuff wasn't quite as crisp.
But look, he showed the talented arm that he is, and I think he's going to help us move forward. ... These TJ guys, it takes time … but he's a very talented kid."
Atlanta did answer in the sixth, tying the game with three runs, but two of them came without the usual thunder. The Braves leaned on a sacrifice fly and a balk in that rally, another sign of how hard they had to work for offense throughout the series.
The tie didn’t last long. Minnesota grabbed control again in the seventh after Josh Bell doubled off Victor Mederos with two outs. Dylan Lee then gave up RBI singles to Kody Clemens and Brooks Lee, and the Twins were back on top 6-4.
The tension peaked in the eighth. Mauricio Dubón struck out and let his feelings show, and Weiss came out to argue a possible check swing with home plate umpire Carlos Torres. Weiss was tossed, his second ejection of the month.
"He doesn't have to check, but I told him he should have, in so many words," Weiss said. "I just feel like, it's [a] close enough check swing right there that the proper protocol there is to check with the first-base umpire."
Austin Riley followed by striking out to end the inning, and he later pointed to the decision-making on the pitch as a moment Atlanta had to own.
"Looking back ... just got to trust your gut there," Riley said. "I kind of went like I was going for it and ended up not ...
I think the big deal there is ... runner on second, ended up being a strikeout. I think that's a situation where I need to pull the trigger there."
Smith-Shawver, for his part, kept his focus on the finish and the next chance.
"When you lose a game like that, just tough," Smith-Shawver said. "You just think about mistakes you made and just things that you can do better. ...
The team really had a chance to win. Just a little frustrating, but just something we make adjustments on.
We just go out and compete again when they give me the ball."
He also acknowledged that building up deeper into games is still part of the process.
"I think that's just been something I've been working on," Smith-Shawver noted. "Just getting deeper in games, coming back, just getting used to the feels and just how my body is in those innings. ... It wasn't as crisp from the fifth coming out there and just something I got to kind of make sure that I put some emphasis on and just work on."
For Atlanta, the bigger picture in Minneapolis was hard to ignore: too many empty at-bats, too many rallies built on scraps instead of sustained pressure, and not enough timely hits to turn chances into wins. Riley said the club needs to flush it and move on as it heads to Chicago.
"It's one of those three-game stretches where [there was] a lot of missed opportunity out there and just capitalizing on timely hits and scoring runs," Riley said. "That's the bottom line.
Just got to be able to score some runs there. At the same time ... [we’re] still in a good spot.
You got to be able to have a short memory, flush it and get ready for tomorrow."
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