Braves 6, Twins 2: Michael Tonkin?!

Baseball is a little bit funny on a Tuesday night, in the midst of an interleague matchup, taking place at a stadium your franchise has never visited, with a Moscow Mule at your side, loaded up with fresh mint from the summer CSA box.

As a result, you’re getting some “silly little quick hits” about a silly little game.

• The Braves made four errors, and instead of letting that beat them, they instead hit five home runs off of Joe Ryan. Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a pair; Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, and Michael Harris II each added one of their own, all five coming within the first two innings of a three-inning Ryan start that saw six earned runs stack up.
• Literally Michael Tonkin came out of the bullpen, in as much of a surprise to me as it was to Ryan Doumit when he texted “Caleb Thielbar is still pitching?!” to Glen Perkins in the booth last year. Tonkin, of course, debuted for the Twins in the Ron Gardenhire era, pitched five decent seasons, and has been out of major-league ball since 2017. He made his 18th appearance with Atlanta tonight, and threw two scoreless innings.
• The Braves turned the following play:

• Minnesota’s runs tonight came on an RBI reached-by-error from Byron Buxton, and a sacrifice fly from Edouard Julien, in an offensive performance that critics are already dubbing “existent.”
• AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
• The Atlanta Braves have demonstrated all season long why they are S-tier threats in the National League, why they are just two seasons removed from a World Championship, and why the Twins are in the AL Central.
• Box score time!

The series closes out tomorrow with yet another eleven o’clock local start. Remote workers and unemployed kings alike will be sure to enjoy this one. We hope to see you there, a-typin’ away in the gamethread.

STUDS:

RP Oliver Ortega (3 IP, 0 H, BB, 2 K)

2B Edouard Julien (1-for-2, RBI, 2 BB)

LF Joey Gallo (2-for-4, R)

DUDS:

SP Joe Ryan (3 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 5 K, 5 HR)

RRF Max Kepler (0-for-4)