Major League Baseball
Atlanta 9, Minnesota 7
When: 8:10 PM ET, Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature: 73°
Umpires: Home - Doug Eddings, 1B - Toby Basner, 2B - Lazaro Diaz, 3B - Jeff Nelson
Attendance: 29482

MINNEAPOLIS -- Freddie Freeman had a chance in the eighth inning on Wednesday to establish a new career high in both single-game hits and RBIs. But after working ahead in the count, the Minnesota Twins chose to walk him instead.

Freeman settled for matching his career bests with four hits and five RBIs, leading the Atlanta Braves to a 9-7 win over Minnesota at Target Field.

"I've never had more than four hits or more than five RBIs. I had a chance there," Freeman said. "But all-in-all, a good night."

A triple short of the cycle, Freeman had four knocks for the third time this season. It was the fifth time in his career the first baseman drove in five runs.

Jeff Francoeur also homered as Atlanta took both games of a two-game series. The Braves have won their last seven matchups against the Twins and finished a nine-game road trip 3-6.

Gordon Beckham and Jace Peterson each had two hits and scored three runs. Beckham also drove in a run with an RBI double in the first inning.

Freeman's homer in the fourth inning gave Atlanta a 7-0 lead and the Braves hung on as the Twins charged back in the middle frames.

Kurt Suzuki homered and had two hits for Minnesota, which has lost three straight games.

Braves right hander Mike Foltynewicz (4-4) cruised early, ran into trouble in the middle innings but got deep enough for the win despite allowing seven runs (six earned) and 12 hits in 5 1/3 innings, walking none and striking out three.

Foltynewicz became the first Braves pitcher since Greg Maddux on Aug. 23, 1998, to allow seven runs and still get the win.

"It's great to jump out and (Foltynewicz) did a great job early of having the shutdown innings," said Braves interim manager Brian Snitker. "He was getting to two strikes (in the middle innings) but was having a tough time putting guys away. But he got the win, that's the big thing."

Fill-in closer Jim Johnson worked the ninth for his fourth save and second in as many nights.

It didn't take long for the Braves to get on the board against Twins starter Tyler Duffey (5-8), who walked the leadoff man Peterson before surrendering Beckham's double off the left-field wall for a 1-0 lead.

Freeman singled but was erased on a 4-6-3 double play before the Braves continued their onslaught. Adonis Garcia doubled ahead of Francoeur's two-run blast over the center-field fence for a 4-0 lead.

The Braves poured it on in the second, getting a leadoff double from Peterson before Freeman blooped an RBI single down the right-field line for a 5-0 lead.

It was the last batter Duffey faced. The right-hander was lifted after just 1 1/3 innings, allowing five runs, eight hits and a walk. It was the shortest outing of his big-league career and second straight that he failed to get out of at least the third inning.

"I had a short (start) last time out and obviously, I wanted to put us in a good situation today," Duffey said. "Didn't do that and taxed our bullpen. We scored enough runs to win which is really frustrating."

Freeman's two-run shot to center field in the fourth extended the Braves' lead to 7-0.

"It's been a rare occurrence for us to give our starter an early lead and it was nice to be able to do that," Freeman said. "Nice way to end the road trip. Our offense has been struggling a bit all year so it was nice to put up some runs like we did and hopefully we can carry that (over)."

Eddie Rosario's RBI double got the Twins on the board in the bottom half of the inning and Suzuki's two-run homer got Minnesota back within 7-3.

"We pecked away at them, got back into the game but they added on a couple, which ended up being the difference in the game," said Twins manager Paul Molitor. "We had chances right down to the end but coming back from down seven is a tough task."

Eduardo Nunez led off the fifth for the Twins with a single and Joe Mauer followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position for Miguel Sano, who chopped a two-run single to right to make it 7-5.

NOTES: The Braves traded RHP Lucas Harrell and LHP Dario Alvarez to the Texas Rangers for INF prospect Travis Demeritte. Harrell was 2-2 in five starts for the Braves and pitched six shutout innings in Tuesday's 2-0 win. Demeritte was hitting .272 with 25 homers and 59 RBIs in Class-A High Desert this season. ... Twins 3B Trevor Plouffe took flips in the batting cage before the game and had his live batting practice session moved up to Friday. On the disabled list since July 4 with a fractured rib, Plouffe could head out on a rehab assignment as soon as this weekend. ... Atlanta will return home to open a four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday at Turner Field. ... Minnesota will make up a postponed game from May 9 against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night at Target Field.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Atlanta   Minnesota
Mike Foltynewicz Player Tyler Duffey
Win W/L Loss
5.1 IP 1.1
3 Strikeouts 0
12 Hits 8
10.12 ERA 33.75
Hitting
Atlanta   Minnesota
Freddie Freeman Player Kurt Suzuki
4 Hits 2
5 RBI 2
1 HR 1
8 TB 5
1.000 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Atlanta 16 2 28 .390 16 10 9 3 2 2
Minnesota 13 1 19 .317 21 9 7 1 0 0