Twins get swept by Braves, continuing futility against National League teams

It’s a little early to be handicapping the Twins’ potential postseason matchups, especially while they backpedal their way down the wild-card standings. But whomever they might draw, the Twins can be thankful for one thing:

It won’t be a National League team.

Caleb Thielbar and Jorge Alcala turned in the latest ugly inning by the bullpen for the Twins, with the help of some non-playoff-level defense, and the Braves completed their second straight sweep of the Twins with a 5-1 victory at Target Field.

The Twins fell to 3½ games behind Cleveland in the AL Central with the loss, their eighth in the past 10 games.

The novelty of playing every National League team each year wears off quickly when those longtime strangers hammer the Twins, as they’ve done this year. The Braves are the eighth consecutive NL team to win a series from the Twins, who are 6-17 in interleague play in July and August.

“We’ve hit a bump and we’ve been pretty streaky — basically for the entire season,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. After bad stretches, “we’ve come right back from it and played some pretty good baseball. It’s about time we figure that out and get it done. I really don’t want to watch these kinds of games any more.”

Hey, good news. After a day off, Toronto visits over the weekend, giving the Twins a safe return to the confines of American League play.

They can only hope their starting pitching is as steady, even dominant, in that series as David Festa was Wednesday. The rookie righthander served up a first-inning home run by Jorge Soler into the Braves’ bullpen, but then retired 15 of the next 17 hitters he faced.

“He’s proving himself right in front of our eyes,” Baldelli said. “A young pitcher gets to the big leagues, this is what you want it to look like.”

Except for one detail: Festa was charged with the loss.

That’s because Festa’s final hitter, Marcell Ozuna, drew a walk to lead off the seventh inning, triggering the decisive rally.

“I probably won’t sleep much tonight, honestly. Just can’t afford to put the leadoff hitter on,” Festa said. “I was confident that I was going to put him away with the slider or changeup, and I just didn’t execute.”

He wasn’t the only one. Thielbar relieved Festa and gave up an RBI double off the wall in right-center to Matt Olson, then a single to Ramón Laureano that scored Olson.

After a strikeout, Alcala took over and gave up an infield single, then threw out Laureano at the plate on a dribbler up the third-base line. But Atlanta’s ninth hitter, third baseman Luke Williams, hit a fly ball to the warning track that left fielder Manuel Margot allowed to bounce off his glove for a two-run double.

“I know that was a play I should have made,” Margot said through interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. “I’m not going to make any excuse. I didn’t field it right. It was longer than I expected.”

Margot made the most notable play on the bases, too, unfortunately.

The outfielder drove a ball to the wall in right-center to get the Twins’ meager rally started in the sixth. When Ryan Jeffers followed with a sharply hit line drive to right, Margot froze to make sure it got through the infield, then appeared to slow down as he approached third base. But Margot suddenly sped up when he saw third base coach Tommy Watkins waving him on.

“To be honest, it was kind of a surprise that they gave me the go sign,” said Margot, who was easily tagged out at the plate. “As a player, you try to do everything you can to run.”

Jose Miranda singled Jeffers to second base and with two outs, Willi Castro hit a ground ball up the middle. Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia dove for the ball and got his glove on it, but it bounced past him and into center field, allowing Jeffers to briefly tie the score.

But that’s all the Twins could get against long-ago nemesis Chris Sale.

The lanky 35-year-old longtime ace of the White Sox hadn’t pitched at Target Field since 2018. But he looked as good as ever, retiring the first nine Twins he faced on Wednesday, then pitching out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth.

Sale struck out six in six innings, giving him 91 whiffs at Target Field in his career, second only to Justin Verlander’s 94 among visiting pitchers.

“Obviously, he’s really, really good,” Festa said. “To pitch against a pitcher like him was really cool.”

All but the ending.