Twins aim to put late loss behind them as Braves come to town

The Minnesota Twins endured one of their toughest losses of the season on Sunday.

Fortunately for Minnesota, there is little time to sit and sulk.

The Twins will be back at it against the Atlanta Braves in the opening contest of a three-game series that starts Monday night in Minneapolis.

Minnesota is coming off a 3-2 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber match of a weekend series. Twins second baseman Edouard Julien made a throwing error in the top of the ninth inning that opened the door for St. Louis to score two runs and hold on to snatch the win.

"It's going to be a hard loss," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said after the late loss. "With games to come, there's not going to be a lot of time to dwell on it. I hope our team is not going to dwell on it."

The mood is mostly better for Atlanta, which has won six of its past eight games. But the Braves are coming off a 5-1 loss at home against the Washington Nationals, who avoided a three-game sweep on Sunday afternoon.

Braves left-hander Max Fried (7-7, 3.57 ERA) is set to make his 23rd start of the season. The 30-year-old has 119 strikeouts in 128 2/3 innings this season.

Fried is coming off a quality start against the Philadelphia Phillies in his most recent outing. He allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings but finished with a no-decision in the 3-2 loss on Wednesday.

The performance marked a turnaround for Fried, who went 0-4 with a 6.31 ERA during his previous five starts. He allowed 18 earned runs in 25 2/3 innings in that span.

"That was Max Fried," Braves manager Brian Snitker said after Fried faced the Phillies. "That's what I told him after the seventh inning. You saw it from the first inning. The command was better, the velocity, the quality of his pitches. It was like, ‘Max is back,' and it was real encouraging."

In one career start against Minnesota, Fried earned the win and allowed three runs (none earned) in 5 1/3 scoreless innings. He walked one and struck out 10 in the Aug. 7, 2019 game.

The Twins will counter with right-hander Bailey Ober (12-5, 3.54), who will make his 25th start. He has 145 strikeouts in 140 innings.

Ober has recorded 11 consecutive quality starts. He is 7-1 with a 2.09 ERA and has 16 walks and 80 strikeouts in 73 1/3 innings in that span.

This will be Ober's first career start against the Braves. He is 4-1 with a 3.65 ERA in 15 career interleague starts.

Atlanta could be without center fielder Michael Harris II, who was hit by a pitch Sunday and left the game in the fifth inning because of left hand soreness. After the game, the team said tests showed Harris did not sustain a fracture and he will be day-to-day.

In 78 games this season, Harris hit .247 with seven homers, 28 RBIs and eight stolen bases. He won the National League Rookie of the Year award in 2022.

--Field Level Media