Today's Three Things: Braves Can't Climb Out of Early Hole vs Twins

Martín Pérez was tagged with four runs before he recorded his first out

The Atlanta Braves dropped the series opener 4-2 to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on Monday night.

Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

Believe it or not, it ended up being the bottom of the first inning.

Atlanta got runners on first and third, but couldn’t bring them in to start the game. The Twins had…more luck than that.

Luke Keaschall started the inning off with a double, going down to get an 0-2 changeup below the zone and pulling a double to left. Righties Byron Buxton and Ryan Jeffers both drew seven-pitch walks, loading the bases with no outs.

Cleanup hitter Josh Bell then got up 3-0, took a sinker in the zone, and then flared a soft fly ball to right that landed just short of Mike Yastrzemski, bouncing into the stands for a ground-rule double.

The Twins then added two more RBI singles, one on a soft liner back up the middle from Royce Lewis (on a first pitch, poorly located cutter) and a Kody Clemens ground ball (again, on the first pitch and on a poorly located offering, this a sinker).

Pérez locked back in after that, getting a flyout, a strikeout, and a groundout to end the inning, but not until 34 pitches and nine total batters.

It was only thanks to a six-pitch 2nd inning, with a single, a groundout, and a double play, that Pérez was able to stabilize his pitch count and finish five innings. He allowed four more hits across his next three innings, but no runs or walks with two strikeouts.

Today’s Player of the Game

It’s going to be somewhat controversial, but I’m giving it to Ray Kerr.

The lefty returned to the majors for the first time since June 15th, 2024, pitching 1.1 scoreless innings. He cleaned up a first-and-second situation for Tyler Kinley with a one-pitch groundout to finish out the sixth, and then came back out for the seventh.

The wiry lefty got himself in a jam, hitting Brooks Lee in the toe with a curveball, giving up a single to rookie Kaelen Culpepper, and then leaving a throw to first on a bunt attempt a bit too high for the diminutive Ozzie Albies, loading the bases.

And then Kerr locked in. He picked up two pop-ups to Matt Oson with well-placed curveballs before getting a groundout to strand all three and hang a NOBLETIGER on the Twins offense.

What You’ll Be Talking About

Once again, the offense for Atlanta was stymied by an opposing pitching staff. The problem is, it wasn’t a playoff-caliber rotation like the Yankees or Diamondbacks, but rather Minnesota’s worst starter and some relievers with high ERAs entering tonight.

The Braves picked up seven hits, including two doubles, but after chasing Bailey Ober with one out in the fifth, they managed just one hit and two walks the rest of the way. Their best chance to rally against the bullpen was with the top of the order up against struggling reliever Jeff Hoffman.

They couldn’t do it, though. Ronald Acuña Jr. struck out in an awful sequence - taking a middle-middle slider for a strike, swinging at a 1-1 slider far off the plate, and then taking an elevated slider for a strike three.

Matt Olson laced a double, then got pushed to third after Kody Clemens made a great diving play to rob Michael Harris II of an RBI hit. Mauricio Dubón walked to load the bases with two outs, but Ozzie Albies chased a splitter off the plate, flying out to left field to strand the tying run on first.

The Braves tried it again in the 9th, getting leadoff man Mike Yastrzemski on via walk and advancing him all the way to third (groundout, defensive indifference), but they could never find a hit to bring in the one run, never mind tie the game with a second.

Looking for more discussion about this game?

Here’s tonight’s Postcast, with me and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni, as we went live to break down the contest.

What’s Next for the Braves?

The Braves will look to even up the series tomorrow night, with Tyler Mahle (4-9, 4.64) taking on Zebby Matthews (6-8, 5.34) at 7:40 on BravesVision.