Atlanta beats Twins 4-1; Sonny Gray, Emilio Pagán yield seventh-inning home runs

ATLANTA – Sonny Gray didn't bother turning his head when Marcell Ozuna connected with a fastball that caught too much of the plate in the seventh inning Monday.

Neither did Emilio Pagán when a splitter didn't drop against Ronald Acuña Jr.

The Twins needed near-perfection from their pitchers in a game that pitted Spencer Strider, baseball's top strikeout artist, against an offense that leads the league in strikeouts by a sizable margin. Predictably, Twins hitters struck out a bunch.

And predictably, Atlanta hitters didn't miss pitches over the middle. The Twins were handed a 4-1 loss in their series opener at Truist Park, undone by two big swings in a three-run seventh inning.

The Twins had two runners on base with one out in the first inning. Strider, last year's runner-up in the National League Rookie of the Year voting, escaped when Carlos Correa lined out to center and second baseman Ozzie Albies tracked down a one-hopper to his left.

"You don't think about it as if it's a negative because there is so much baseball left to be played," said manager Rocco Baldelli after the Twins were held to fewer than two runs for the 16th time this season. "But you do look up and you're only going to have so many chances, especially against a guy, he's one of the absolute top pitchers in the game."

Strider struck out 10 batters in seven innings. Twins hitters looked overmatched by his slider, which is a pitch Strider pairs with a fastball that reached 99 miles per hour.

In the second inning, Joey Gallo launched a 98-mph fastball at the bottom of the strike zone to straightaway center for his second home run in the past three games. Strider retired 17 of the next 19 batters without allowing a baserunner to touch second base.

"When your two pitches are that good, you don't really need a third pitch," Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers said. "We had a decent approach on him, but you run into a good arm like that, you know that you're not going to score a ton."

Gray matched Strider through the first six innings. His velocity was up by 1 mph. He threw more sliders to lefthanded hitters than usual, which kept a powerful lineup off balance.

There was no discussion in the dugout about Gray returning for the seventh inning in a tie game at 89 pitches. Five pitches later, Ozuna crushed a go-ahead solo homer to center.

"What we were going to do was just let him keep doing what he was doing," Baldelli said. "That's the plan right there. And you know what? We would do the exact same thing over again. The right guy in that situation had the ball."

A two-out infield single from Michael Harris III ended Gray's outing after 6⅔ innings. Pagán entered with a one-run deficit — Baldelli said they were staying away from Griffin Jax and using Jhoan Duran only for a one-inning save situation — and he left a two-strike splitter down the middle to Acuña. The ball traveled 432 feet.

Acuña "might be the best hitter in baseball right now," Gray said.

One run scored against Gray in the fourth inning when the Twins were a step slow. Austin Riley lined a single past second baseman Donovan Solano, who was correctly positioned but couldn't snag the rocket flying past him at 110 mph. Matt Olson pulled the next pitch down through the right side of the infield at 106 mph, which sneaked past diving first baseman Alex Kirilloff.

With runners on the corners and one out, Gray induced a ground ball, but it was too much of a slow roller, and Solano's turn at second base was a split-second late to complete a double play.

"I grew up close to here," said Gray, the Smyrna, Tenn., native. "I had a lot of family and friends at the game. I grew up a Braves fan. I'm always excited when I come here."

One pitch to Ozuna, however, turned a strong start into a spoiled outing.