Freeman, Braves hang on for win to sweep Twins
MINNEAPOLIS — Freddie Freeman and Jeff Francoeur each had a home run and a stolen base before the end of the Braves’ fourth inning Wednesday night against Minnesota.
Freeman had three hits and four RBIs before the Twins recorded a second out in the fourth, including a towering two-run homer that pushed the Braves’ lead to 7-0.
But the Braves withstood a bad few innings from Mike Foltynewicz and held on for a 9-7 win and two-game sweep at Target Field, giving the Braves their first consecutive wins against one opponent in nearly six weeks.
They finished 3-6 on a threecity trip that started with a series loss at Cincinnati and continued with a woeful four-game sweep at the hands of the Rockies. But the Braves (35-66) at least got the bad taste from their mouths with back-to-back wins against the team with the majors’ second-worst record, the Twins (37-63).
They got four hits and five RBIs from Freeman, a big threestrikeout seventh inning from reliever Mauricio Cabrera and a couple of key defensive plays in the eighth from Freeman on a bunt play and second baseman Gordon Beckham on a diving stop with two runners on base.
The Braves extended their winning streak to seven games over the Twins — albeit a streak cobbled together in three seasons over a six-year period.
Foltynewicz, after being staked to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and a 7-0 spread headed to the bottom of the fourth, gave almost all of it back while allowing 12 hits (matching a career high) and seven runs (six earned) in 5 1-3 innings of a start that came apart quickly.
After giving up just three singles through three scoreless innings, he was charged with six runs and nine hits by the last 16 batters he faced, beginning with Brian Dozier’s leadoff double in the fourth inning. He allowed five runs on six hits in a span of nine batters, including three doubles, Kurt Suzuki’s two-run, twoout homer in the fourth and Miguel Sano’s two-run single in the fifth that reduced the lead to 7-5.
Consecutive doubles by Beckham and Freeman in the sixth pushed the Braves’ lead back to 8-5 and gave Freeman his fifth RBI, matching a personal best he’s done five times.
But the Twins answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning on three more singles against Foltynewicz, the third a hit by Eduardo Nunez that was misplayed by left fielder Jace Peterson to allow the runners to advance an extra base.
Left-hander Ian Krol was brought in to face Joe Mauer, whose RBI ground out reduced the lead to 8-7.
In the early going it was all Braves, who were going for a sweep of the two-game series and their first consecutive wins against one opponent in more than month, since sweeping a three-game road series June 17-19 against the Mets.
After Peterson’s leadoff walk in the first inning and Beckham’s RBI double off the left-center wall, Freeman ended a nine-pitch at-bat with a run-scoring single for a 2-0 lead. Nick Markakis grounded into a double play, but the Braves weren’t done with Twins starter Tyler Duffey. Not hardly.
Adonis Garcia extended his hitting streak to nine games with a two-out double, and Francoeur followed three pitches later with a two-run homer.