Braves right-hander Joel De La Cruz’s right knee appeared to be fine. His team’s offense was another matter.
De La Cruz made a strong return to the mound after leaving his previous start with a knee injury but the Braves couldn’t solve Twins right-hander Ervin Santana. He held the Braves scoreless over seven innings to lead the Twins to a 4-2 interleague victory on Tuesday at Turner Field.
The Braves (44-75) scored two runs in the eighth inning but went on to lose for the fifth time in six games. They have the worst record in baseball while the Twins (48-71) have the worst mark in the AL.
De La Cruz left his start at the Brewers last week when he took a hard ground ball to the knee in the fourth inning. After the Braves had an off day Monday, De La Cruz gave up Trevor Plouffe’s RBI double in the first inning and nothing else over 5 1/3 innings.
“He was good, he just had to work really hard to get it done I thought,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “He kept the game in check, gave us a chance, and that’s all you can ask. I didn’t see any effect from getting hit in the knee. It was a solid outing, I would have just liked to see him go deeper in the game.”
The Twins scored two runs with two outs in the eighth inning. Joe Mauer hit a line-drive home run against Jose Ramirez and Kurt Suzuki hit a run-scoring single against Chaz Roe.
The Braves cut into the deficit against Minnesota’s bullpen. Left-hander Taylor Rogers hit Chase d’Arnaud with a pitch with one out and then walked Freddie Freeman. Right-hander Ryan Pressly replaced him and gave up an RBI double to Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis followed with a ground out that scored Freeman and pulled the Braves within 3-2.
That brought up Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia, who nearly tied the game twice. He hit a hard line drive to right field that bounced off the wall just right of the foul line and then ripped another liner that went right at left fielder Danny Santana, who caught it to end the inning.
The Twins added a run in the ninth inning on Trevor Plouffe’s RBI single against Mauricio Cabrera. Center fielder Ender Inciarte saved a run when he threw out Jorge Polanco at the plate on the play.
The Braves managed three hits and a walk through six innings against Ervin Santana, who made 31 starts for them during the 2014 season. Markakis led off the seventh with a single and A.J. Pierzynski walked with two outs before Santana struck out pinch hitter Jeff Francoeur.
Santana pitched a complete game against the Braves on July 26 in Minnesota while limiting them to two runs.
“He did the exact same thing, unfortunately,” Freeman said. “He commands both sides of the plate with his fastball and he’s got that slider that you think you can hit, and then it disappears. He had it working today.”
