ATLANTA – Ervin Santana scattered four hits over seven scoreless innings, Joe Mauer homered and the Minnesota Twins beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2 on Tuesday night.
In a matchup of the two worst teams in the major leagues, Minnesota improved to 48-71, four games better than the Braves.
Santana (6-9) walked two and struck out six, throwing 64 of his 107 pitches for strikes to win his third straight start.
The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the first on Trevor Plouffe’s RBI double. In the eighth, Mauer hit his 10th homer and Kurt Suzuki had an RBI single to make it 3-0.
Brandon Kintzler earned his 12th save in 13 chances after facing four batters in the ninth.