Kody Clemens and Brooks Lee had RBI singles in the seventh inning and the Minnesota Twins beat the Atlanta Braves 6-4 on Wednesday to sweep the three-game series.
Clemens drove in three runs and Kaelen Culpepper added three hits for Minnesota.
Yoendrys Gómez earned his third save in as many games and 20th of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth. A.J. Minter (2-2) got the last two outs of the seventh inning and Jeff Hoffman struck out three batters in the eighth.
With the game tied at 4, Josh Bell doubled off Victor Mederos (2-1) with one out in the seventh inning and Clemens followed with an RBI single against Dylan Lee. Brooks Lee singled two batters later to score Clemens.
"I knew I hit it hard, and I was just watching how Michael Harris fielded it," Bell described on the Twins postgame show. "As soon as he took those extra steps I knew. Had to be a bang-bang play and I was going to get there. And such a big 90-feet because that changes the scope of the entire inning and Kody obviously comes through."
Ronald Acuña Jr., Lane Thomas and Ozzie Albies had RBIs for Atlanta.
The Braves have scored 15 runs in losing five of six games, including 4-2 on Monday and 4-1 on Tuesday. They are 8 for 43 with runners in scoring position in that span.
Manager Walt Weiss was ejected for arguing a check swing in the eighth.
AJ Smith-Shawver, recalled Tuesday from Triple-A Gwinnett, made his second start of the season for Atlanta. He allowed five hits and four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings, including a two-run double by Clemens as part of a three-run fifth for a 4-1 Twins lead.
Atlanta had three straight singles to start the sixth against Kody Funderburk. Each man scored, the last on a Tommy Nance balk, to tie the game.
Looking for his first win in seven starts, Twins starter Taj Bradley gave up two hits and one run in five innings while striking out seven. He needed 16 pitches to get through two innings, but at least 20 in each of the next three, including 31 in the fifth.
Bell said even though the Twins were swept by the Phillies, they never lost confidence with first place Atlanta coming in to Target Field.
"Yeah, we believe in ourselves, especially with our starters doing what they've been doing the last few weeks, giving us a chance to be in every ballgame," Bell added.
Up next
The Twins open a three-game series Friday in San Diego with LHP Connor Prielipp (3-6, 5.34) on the hill. The Padres have not announced a starter. After the Padres, the Twins are off to Sacramento for three with The Athletics.
