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.
Santana allowed three runners to get into scoring position before striking out Jace Peterson in the second, Chase d’Arnaud in the third and pinch-hitter Jeff Francoeur in the seventh.
