ATLANTA _ Ervin Santana spent 2014 with the Braves and went 10-4 with a 3.75 ERA at Turner Field that year.
And he looked very comfortable in familiar surroundings on Tuesday.
Santana nursed an early lead until the Twins added runs late to take down the Braves, 4-2, on Tuesday in the first of a two-game series. Santana, 6-9, won his third straight start.
Santana now is 5-2 with a 1.84 ERA over his last 10 starts, well, official starts, since his outing last Wednesday against Houston was washed out after two-plus innings with him holding a 5-0 lead. And he kept putting up zeroes on Tuesday, holding the Braves to four hits and two walks with six strikeouts improve to 6-9.
The Twins could have moved Santana before the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline and still could get offers for him before the Aug. 31 deadline, provided that he clears waivers. But the Twins prefer to keep him for reasons like he put forth Tuesday.
The Twins scored in the first inning, when Joe Mauer drew a two-out walk then Trevor Plouffe got a fat pitch and walloped a double to center. Mauer was waived home by third base coach Gene Glynn and slid in safely as the relay throw from Chase d'Arnaud was up the first base line.
Braves right-hander Joel De La Cruz cut the fat from his diet of pitches and started piling up zeroes. The Twins didn't get another hit until the fifth.
Santana rolled through the Braves lineup with ease until the seventh inning when Nick Markakis led off with a single to right. Adonis Garcia followed with a blooper to right that had the look of two runners on and no one out. But Brian Dozier closed hard on the ball and made a sprawling catch for the first out. Jace Peterson tapped to the mound for the second out, and Santana appeared to work around A.J. Pierzynski before walking him. That brought up pinch hitter Jeff Francoeur.
Francoeur worked the count full, but Santana fired a 94-mph fastball by him to end the inning.
The Twins looked like they had bungled the eighth when Brian Dozier led off with a single but was thrown out trying to steal second. Jorge Polanco flied out to center for the second out.
But the next five Twins batters reached base against three Braves relievers. That included Mauer, who homered to left and Kurt Suzuki, who added an RBI single as the Twins took a 3-0 lead.
Atlanta scored twice in the eighth to get within 3-2, but Trevor Plouffe dumped a single to center against Braves flame thrower Mauricio Cabrera to score Danny Santana and make the score 4-2.
