May 19, 2024
ATLANTA (AP) — Marcell Ozuna was increasingly frustrated against Sonny Gray, a history he updated in his mind with his latest strikeout in his first at-bat on Monday night.
“I strike out for maybe the fifth time,” Ozuna said.
Ozuna responded with a go-ahead homer off Gray in the seventh, Spencer Strider allowed three hits in seven innings while striking out 10 and the Atlanta Braves beat the Minnesota 4-1 in the Twins' first visit to Atlanta in seven years.
Before the homer, Ozuna was 2 for 12 — yes, with five strikeouts — against Gray.
Ronald Acuña Jr. added a two-run homer in a three-run seventh. In the matchup of first-place teams in the NL East and AL Central, the Braves won for the 11th time in 12 games.
Minnesota played its first game at Truist Park, which opened in 2017, a year after the Twins visited Turner Field.
Joey Gallo's 13th homer gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the second. Strider gave up a third-inning single to Alex Kirilloff and then got 13 consecutive outs before walking Gallo with two outs in the seventh. Strider struck out Kyle Farmer to end the inning.
Strider (9-2) won his fifth consecutive decision, reaching double-digit strikeouts for the 11th time in 36 starts, including five this season. He has allowed one run in each of his last two starts after giving up a combined 13 runs in back-to-back games.
“It's baseball, you play any game long enough you're going to have bad games,” Strider said. “I try not to get too high or too low. It's too early in the season.”
Before Ozuna's homer, the only run allowed by Gray (4-2) came in the fourth, when Austin Riley singled, took third on Matt Olson's single and scored when Travis d'Arnaud grounded into a forceout.
“It was back and forth from the pitchers inning after inning,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. “Sonny was fantastic. Sonny was just — he was great.”
With two outs in the seventh, Gray gave up an infield single to Michael Harris II and Acuña followed with a 432-foot drive to left off Emilio Pagán for a three-run lead.
“I knew they’re playing really, really well right now and they’re swinging the bats well,” Gray said. “They’re a good team. I was more focused on that knowing that Strider is also a very, very good pitcher as well.”
