Minnesota Twins lose to Atlanta, their skid against the Braves reaching double digits

ATLANTA - This Braves streak is reaching Yankee proportions for the Twins.

Naturally, it took a former Yankee to extend it.

Alex Verdugo, who left New York last winter and signed with Atlanta in March, spoiled Brock Stewart’s return to the majors with a tie-breaking single on Saturday, and the Braves held on for a 4-3 victory at Truist Park that dropped the Twins to 7-14 this season.

The loss was the Twins’ 10th in a row to the Braves, a skid dating back to a Miguel Sano walkoff homer in 2019. No, it doesn’t yet rival the Twins’ 13 consecutive postseason losses to New York, but that feeling of futility, of watching even their best moments swept away, seems awfully familiar.

“It’s big. You always want to beat your hometown team,” said Byron Buxton, who grew up in Baxley, Ga., about three hours south of Atlanta. “Even though it’s where I’m from, it’s always good to come home in the offseason with that ‘We beat y’all’ attitude.”

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Buxton is certainly doing his part. The native Georgian had a spectacular night in the leadoff spot, collecting three hits, including his first triple of the season, driving in a run, and stealing a base. He’s hit four balls to the warning track in two days yet has only the triple to show for it.

“They keep making incredible plays on him. He could be sitting here in two games with four extra-base hits,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’d be almost all we’re talking about, the way he’s swinging the bats and hitting the ball so hard.”

Yet just like his team, Buxton was outdone by his counterpart, the Braves’ leadoff hitter, Verdugo, who collected four hits and drove in a run.

“He looks out to prove something this year,” Baldelli said. “He’s always given us tough at-bats.”

One night after blowing a three-run eighth-inning lead, the Twins quieted the sellout crowd of 39,278 by twice taking leads over the Braves. But those brief advantages only served to raise the decibel level into triple digits when the Twins allowed Atlanta to match, or exceed, them during their next turn at bat.

Even more frustrating: The Twins had so many chances against longtime nemesis Chris Sale, who gave up six hits, half of them for extra bases, and walked three more batters in his 4 ⅓ innings. But the Twins only scored twice, constantly seeking a clutch hit off the lefthander that never came. They went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, three times leaving runners stranded on third base.

Buxton opened the game by beating out an infield hit, then scored from first base when newcomer Luke Keaschall drove a two-strike slider into the left-field corner for a double. The next three hitters, though, couldn’t bring him home.

Nor could they two innings later, when Buxton crushed a ball off the center-field fence and hustled to third base with a one-out triple

Last year or in 2023, Buxton admitted, he wouldn’t have stretched it to third base. So this? “It was fun. To be able to take that extra base, get to third knowing there was one out, that’s being aggressive,” Buxton said. “That’s a fun thing about being fast.”

Less fun: Keaschall struck out and after a walk, Ty France grounded out, leaving Buxton on base.

Carlos Correa led off the fourth inning by launching a fastball in the middle of the plate into the right-field seats, tying the game with his first home run of the season. An inning later, though, after Sale loaded the bases with another single by Buxton and back-to-back walks, Correa and Harrison Bader struck out against reliever Rafael Montero.

BOXSCORE: Atlanta 4, Twins 3

MLB standings

That opening proved fatal, because Simeon Woods Richardson, after falling behind 2-0 to Michael Harris, left a fastball low and inside. Harris, seemingly waiting for exactly that pitch, bounced it off the Chop House restaurant behind the right-field seats, flipping his bat in celebration after tying the game once more.

Woods Richardson seemed rattled, allowing the Braves’ eighth and ninth hitters, Nick Allen and Jarred Kelenic, to follow with back-to-back singles, ending his night. Stewart, activated for his first MLB action since last July, was summoned to face Verdugo.

Stewart’s first three pitches were all wide of the strike zone, but he got the count back to 3-2. His seventh pitch was a fastball at the letters, though, and Verdugo punched it into right field for an RBI single that ultimately decided the game.

The Twins have one more chance, in Sunday afternoon’s series finale, to break Atlanta’s grip on them until next season. Otherwise, they’ll have to be content recalling their 4-3 advantage over Atlanta in World Series play.