ATLANTA _ Dansby Swanson went 2-for-4 in his major league debut and Freddie Freeman hit his career-high 24th home run, but there was precious little else to recommend of the Braves' performance Wednesday night against the Minnesota Twins.
Atlanta's bullpen, struggling again after a recent encouraging stretch, allowed four runs in the sixth and seventh innings and two more in the ninth in a 10-3 loss to the Twins, as the team with the majors' second-worst record completed a two-game sweep at Turner Field against the team with the worst mark.
Swanson, in his much-anticipated debut, lined out to center field his first time up in the second inning, and then drove an opposite-field single to right with two out in the fourth inning.
The 22-year-old shortstop struck out in the seventh and lined another two-out single up the middle in the ninth inning, with a cheering section of family and friends chanting his name from seats about 30 rows behind home plate.
Left-hander Eric O'Flaherty entered a tied game in the sixth and was charged with three runs, three hits and two walks in one-plus inning, raising his ERA to 8.24 in his past 23 appearances. In that span he's allowed 29 hits, 18 earned runs and eight walks in 19 2/3 innings, and the Braves lost 20 of those 23 games.
In the ninth, recently called up rookie Jason Hursh recorded one out and was charged with four runs. He walked the bottom three hitters in the order to load the bases, with Twins starting pitcher Kyle Gibson drawing the third of those walks before Brian Dozier's single chased Hursh.
Hursh was charged with four runs after fellow rookie Ryan Weber gave up two more hits. What was a winnable game past the halfway point spiraled into a mess for the Braves, who trailed 10-2 before getting a solo homer from Nick Markakis in the ninth inning.
After the Twins scored two runs in the first inning against starter Mike Foltynewicz, Freeman tied the game with a two-run homer in the third inning, his 24th homer topping his previous career best done twice before this season. Freeman has seven homers and 20 RBIs in his past 20 games.
Foltynewicz (6-6) was charged with five hits, two runs and three walks with seven strikeouts in five innings, leaving the game at that point because he'd used 100 pitches to get there.
.png?w=600)
