For three innings, Davies looked like the can't-miss prospect the Braves once envisioned him to be. But the Twins came up with a five-run fourth inning that would carry them to a 7-3 win over the Braves Tuesday night.
Atlanta was attempting to win a third consecutive game for the second time since May 13. Fortunately, the struggling Mets lost to the LA Dodgers leaving the Braves 2.0 games behind. The Phillies won and have closed to just a game behind the Braves.
Davies, who allowed five earned runs and six hits in 3 2/3 innings, has lost three of his past five starts. In his two other outings, he went at least seven innings and allowed just one earned run.
Davies retired Joe Mauer to begin the fourth and then issued consecutive walks to Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau. Torii Hunter followed with a two-run double to prolong a stretch in which the Braves right-hander would retire just one of the eight batters that he faced. Entering this stretch, he'd retired 10 straight.
Luis Castillo, who opened the bottom of the first with a single, ended the fourth-inning uprising with a two-run single that went under Davies' glove and found its way into center field.
Francoeur's first homer since May 19 and the fifth-inning solo shot provided by Scott Thorman produced the only earned runs surrendered by Kevin Slowey, who provided six solid innings in what was just his third career Major League start.
The only other run that scored while he was on the mound came when Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled in the sixth to score Andruw Jones, who had reached on a two-out throwing error.
Brian McCann, who went hitless to give him just one hit in his past 17 at-bats, endured a tough-luck evening. With runners at second and third, he ended the third inning with a long flyout to left. In addition, he grounded into a double play that likely minimized the damage Slowey incurred in the sixth.
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Chipper Jones experienced a relatively pain-free batting practice session before Tuesday night's series opener against the Twins at Metrodome. Now his plan is to talk to Cox about the possibility of him being activated in time to return to the lineup on Wednesday.
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Adapted from article on the Major League Baseball website.
Jeff Francoeur homered in the game.
Click to enlarge photo.
- Photo2 by Tim Evearitt (file photo)