Santana Pitches 7 Scoreless Innings in Twins’ 4-2 Win

ATLANTA (AP) — 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.

The second and final game of the two game set is tonight at 6:10, pre-game at 5:30 on News/talk 1340 KROC AM.