Dansby Swanson went 2-for-4 in major league debut and Freddie Freeman collected his career-high 24th home run, but there was little else to recommend of the Braves’ performance Wednesday night against the Minnesota Twins.
Atlanta’s bullpen, struggling again after a recent encouraging stretch, allowed four runs over the sixth and seventh innings and two more in the ninth in a 10-3 loss to the Twins, and the team with the majors’ second-worst record completed a two-game sweep at Turner Field against the team with the worst.
Swanson, in his much-anticipated major league debut, lined out to center field his first time up in the second inning, then drove an opposite-field single to right with two out in the fourth inning.
The 22-year-old shortstop, a former Marietta High School star in suburban Atlanta, struck out in the seventh and lined another two-out single up the middle in the ninth inning. A cheering section of family and friends chanted his name from seats about 30 rows behind home plate.
“They’re nuts, I know,” Swanson said, smiling. “It was great to hear that. It means a lot to me. I love every single one of them and I’m just glad they were able to be a part of it.”
He drew a standing ovation from an announced crowd of 19,304 — it looked much smaller — before and after his first at-bat.
"Probably as close to a dream come true as possible," he said of putting on the Braves uniform and playing at the ballpark where he used to attend games as a child. "That's the only way I can sum it up. Playing for your hometown team, basically going out there and doing what you've worked your whole life for is pretty special."
Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said Swanson “could have been 3-for-4. It was real good. He looked like he was just playing a normal baseball game. I wish he’d had a couple of plays, but he swung the bat nice.”
Swanson didn’t have a ground ball hit to him all night.
Left-hander Eric O’Flaherty entered a tied game in the sixth and was charged with three runs, three hits and two walks in one-plus inning, raising his ERA to 8.24 in his past 23 appearances. In that span he’s allowed 29 hits, 18 earned runs and eight walks in 19 2/3 innings, and the Braves lost 20 of those 23 games.
In the ninth, recently called up rookie Jason Hursh recorded one out and was charged with four runs. He walked the bottom three hitters in the order to load the bases, with Twins starting pitcher Kyle Gibson drawing the third of those walks before Brian Dozier’s single chased Hursh.
Gibson (5-7) threw an eight-hitter in 115 pitches for his second career complete game and first lasting nine innings.
Hursh was charged with four runs after fellow rookie Ryan Weber gave up two more hits. What was a winnable game past the halfway point spiraled into a mess for the Braves, who trailed 10-2 before getting a solo homer from Nick Markakis in the ninth inning.
The Braves have been outscored 50-26 while losing six of their past seven games, after winning six of the previous seven. They’ve lost nine consecutive home interleague games including seven this season.
After the Twins scored two runs in the first inning against starter Mike Foltynewicz, Freeman tied the game with a two-run homer in the third inning, his 24th homer topping his previous career best done twice before this season. Freeman has seven homers and 20 RBIs in his past 20 games.
The Twins lost five of six games before arriving in Atlanta and taking two from the Braves, whose 44-76 record includes a staggering 18-41 mark at Turner Field. Arizona (20-40) was the only other major league team with fewer than 25 home wins before Wednesday.
Foltynewicz (6-6) was charged with five hits, two runs and three walks with seven strikeouts in five innings, leaving the game at that point because he’d used 100 pitches to get there.
“We used a lot (of relievers) yesterday trying to stay in the game, and Folty – every inning was a stressful inning for him,” Snitker said. “He kept us in the ballgame, but I would liked to have, after five (innings), about 65 pitches instead of 100, maybe could extend the ballgame a little bit. We just kind of got stretched thin there.”
He gave up two runs in the first inning before recording his second out, surrendering three hits in a four-batter span to start the game including doubles by Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe. Foltynewicz settled down and pitched better, but never had a clean inning.
After Freeman’s tying homer in the third inning, the Twins elected to intentionally walk him with a runner at third and one out in the fifth to face Matt Kemp, who grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Freeman has 31 hits (16 extra-base hits), 21 RBIs and 19 walks in his past 24 games, batting .365 with an OBP approaching .500.
O’Flaherty entered to start the sixth inning with the score 2-all and gave up the go-ahead run on consecutive doubles by Eddie Rosario and Juan Centeno to start the inning. First batters faced are 15-for-34 (.441) against the lefty this season.
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