Luke Williams doubled twice and had two RBIs, Chris Sale notched his 15th win and the Atlanta Braves pulled away for a 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.
Matt Olson delivered an RBI double for Atlanta, which completed a three-game sweep. Jorge Soler belted a solo home run and Ramon Laureano finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Willi Castro drove in the lone run for Minnesota, which has lost four straight games and eight of its last 10.
Sale (15-3) continued his terrific season by limiting the Twins to one run on six hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out six.
The left-hander has tallied four straight quality starts and has won his last five decisions. His 15 wins are tied with the Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal for the major league lead.
Minnesota starter David Festa (2-4) took the loss despite allowing just two runs on two hits in six innings. The right-hander walked one and struck out seven.
The Braves scored four runs in the seventh to surge ahead 5-1.
Olson gave Atlanta the lead when belted a go-ahead RBI double against Caleb Thielbar, who entered after Festa walked Marcell Ozuna to start the inning. Laureano followed with an RBI single to right that scored Olson and made it 3-1.
Jorge Alcala took over for Thielbar with one out and surrendered Williams’ two-out, two-run double to left to cap the scoring.
Braves relievers Luke Jackson, Joe Jimenez and Raisel Iglesias pitched one scoreless inning apiece out of the bullpen to preserve the lead.
The Twins entered the seventh inning tied at 1-1 after pulling even in the sixth.
Manuel Margot doubled to lead off the frame but was thrown out at home on Ryan Jeffers’ ensuing single. Jeffers moved to second on Jose Miranda’s hit before sprinting home on Castro’s two-out single to center.
Atlanta jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Soler hammered the second pitch he saw from Festa an estimated 431 feet to center for his 17th homer.
–Field Level Media