Twins vs. Braves Game Highlights (4/18/25) | MLB Highlights

It's a beautiful night here in Atlanta. The Minnesota Twins are here to take on the Atlanta Braves with both teams needing some victories. It's an Atlanta team that, like the Twins, has struggled offensively. They're scoring just 3.4 runs a game. For Bryce Elder, it's his third start. He's 0-1 with a .720 ERA. Yeah, it's pretty high, but I'll tell you what. Bryce Elder knows what he's doing. He knows how to pitch. He's 16-14 in his career, a former All-Star for Atlanta, you might remember, with a .428 ERA. This is his first appearance against Minnesota. Fly ball to left center on the first pitch as Julian flies out to the very talented center fielder, Michael Harris. So that's how it begins here tonight. One pitch, one out. Although Elder likes to live on the ground, a 50% ground ball rate for his career. There's a ground ball off the bat of Buxton. Riley hurries it across. Buxton's flying, and he's out by a half step. Bang, bang, play. So France is battling here against Bryce Elder. 3-2 again, and he takes it. High ball four. That is a big-time plate appearance for Ty France. We're in the first inning, and already eight two-strike foul balls for Elder. Just having a hard time putting anybody away these last two batters. Larnica waits. Now the 2-2 pitch from Elder. That time, he's able to get one by him. Swing and a miss as he went down and in, and he finishes off the inning with a strikeout of Larnica. We go to the bottom of the first inning. The changeup, I think, is going to be the X-Factor for Chris Panik. That's been his best pitch far and away. Alex Verdugo, he's the newest Brave. Not just in the lineup, but at the top of the order. It's this ball out toward left center field. Moving after it is Larnica. He's there. And Verdugo lines out his first at bat as a Brave. Here's Austin Riley. It's this ball on a rope, and it's caught by Brooks Lee. A diving stab by Lee to rob his counterpart, Riley. That's why they call it the hot corner. Got to keep your head on the swivel. Here's Ozuna. Grounds this ball to shortstop for Carlos. Scoops it up in routine fashion. Throws to first, and Chris Panik nicely done a one-two-three. Bottom of the first. Replayed one for the truest part. Get to the top of the second on the first pitch. It's ripped off the glove of Riley as Carlos Correa hits another one hard. This time, he has something to show for it. It's a double to begin the second. Welcome back, Carlos Correa. The wrist looking just fine there. Thank you very much. The Minnesota Twins offense is in a situation where you have to cash in. Now, Jeffers trying to at least move him over. Swung on and hit sharply fair. Passed Riley down into the corner. That should score Correa. Correa gears down into first. He will lope home. Jeffers thinking about three. Sorry, Matty Kennedy in Zambroda. It's only a double. But the good news is the Twins lead 1-0. Lee is retired, but Jeffers does go to third. And that means a potential second run. It's just 90 feet down the jock. For the first major league at bat for Luke Keishel, the Twins minor league player of the year. His family made the trip. He lines this one into right field. That's going to be a base hit and an RBI. Jeffers scores. Keishel rounds hard at first. He'll settle in with an RBI single. Welcome to the big leagues, Luke Keishel. It's 2-0, Twins. He's a strong, muscular guy, so you don't think speed right away, the way he's built. But he can really move. He looks fast to me. He looks like an athlete. There goes Keishel. Trying for his first big league steal. And he has that, too. Green light. They are fired up. That looks like grandpa trying to do a little score book right there. He's saying, what's going on? Good situation with two outs to try to put a runner in scoring position. Luke to shallow left. Coming in for a long run. And Verdugo catches up to it to make the catch. 2-0, Minnesota. Top of the third inning. Warnick awaits. Swings and hits this one well. Deep right field. Heading for the 16-foot high wall. And it's over the wall for a home run. There's the breakout we've been waiting for. Trevor Warnick with his first of the year. And it's 3-0, Twins. There's your barrel we've been waiting for. You could feel it coming. And he got into that one at 111.8 off the bat and 407 feet. That had to feel so good for Trevor Warnick. That's a big weight off of his shoulders. Lead off walk here in the fourth inning as Brooks Lee is on. Here's Luke Keishel. Now here's a ground ball. Fair down the third baseline. Keishel's two for two. Brooks Lee's on his way to third. He'll be held there. And Luke Keishel has a double. Please show grandpa. He righted down, Wayne, just like you, Wayne. He righted down. He got his line out. The young man getting his foot down and being impactful. And the family is fired up. Left-handed hitting Deshaun Kiersey. 1-0 pitch. And a bouncer out to Riley. He leaps. Down comes to the plate. And they have got him by a mile. They cut down Brooks Lee at the plate. Nice play by Austin. And Lee being tended to. I think he took that glove right in the face. And he may have a bit of a bloody nose. He does. Keishel ends up at third base. Kersey Jr. is on at first on the fielder's choice. Infield in. High fly ball. Center field. Harris fairly shallow. Coming in on the ball. The left he has to catch. Keishel is coming home. The throw to the plate. The slide from Keishel. He's in. It's a sack fly. And the twins lead it 4-0. But there was no way you were going to keep Luke Keishel from trying to score on that play. No, he was tagging all the way. But that was a nice play by Harris in center. Strong throw home. Well, it's Luke Keishel's world. We're all just living in it tonight. His major league debut has been a dandy. Chris Paddock has a 4-0 lead. He's thrown 47 pitches through three innings. Ozuna the batter. And a big swinging miss by Ozuna to pitch high. Ozuna's a strikeout victim. That's three strikeouts for Chris Paddock. He's yet to give up a hit. He faces Matt Olsen. Eleventh pitch of the at bat. And it's swung on and missed for strike three. Paddock finally puts away Olsen. Gave him a little smile like, yeah, you got me there. Three straight strikeouts for Paddock. And now Ozzie Albies the batter. Braves looking to give them something to roar about right here. 1-0 pitch. This is falling to the ground pretty sharply. Backs up Correa. Backhand pick. The throw. One kind of skipped up on Correa. He was able to pick it, but it took him away from the throw. And he wasn't able to beat Albies. It's the first hit for Atlanta. 1-1 to Murphy. And he strokes one in the left field. Base hit. Back-to-back hits here for Atlanta in the fourth. And that's that of the Braves in the bottom of the fourth. No runs, two hits, no errors, and two left. At this point, Perk is a starter. You've got the lead. You're sitting about 78 pitches here. Are you thinking, hey, I need to get six minimum? Are you thinking about length and what you can do to help your bullpen? Their focus is a lot shorter. I think Chris Paddock is entirely focused on how to get Jared Kelnick out. Paddock to the plate and a long drive to deep right center. Headed for the Braves bullpen. On the run, Buxton. That ball is way out of here. Home run, Kelnick. 4-1 Minnesota. It's Jared Kelnick. It's his second homer of the year. And, I mean, he clobbered that. 418 feet on the homer. Right away. Well, obviously, Jared's tired of this stuff, too. Buxton 0-3. Ground down, fly out, strikeout. There's a drive to left center. Harris got a great jump. Racing back for it. Reaches out and makes the catch. What a play by Michael Harris. He was on it, man. Excellent jump. And you see that Byron Buxton tips his cap because Byron has done that all his career. This young man can go get it with the best of them. Three balls, two strikes. Ozuna trying to spark something here in the eighth for Atlanta. And he takes ball four. So, Jax struck out Riley but walks Ozuna. The Braves do get a base runner here in the eighth inning. Olsen now facing Jax. First pitch slugged down the right field line. Rolling down through right field and cut off at the warning track. First to third for Ozuna. And, oh, by the way, he's running much better than he was when we saw him in Tampa. And it's a single for Olsen. The tying run will come to the plate. Ozuna has led since the second inning. Braves threatening here in the eighth. Ground ball to the right side. A diving stop by Frantz at first. Throws to the back. Not in time. Ozuna beat it out. A run scores. And it's a 4-2 game with runners at first and second. Yeah, Frantz was upset with himself, but he did everything right. He went with a backhand flip to the pitcher who wasn't to the bag yet. That wasn't his fault. It's a 4-2 game. The tying run is at first. The go-ahead run to the plate is Sean Murphy. It's ball four to Murphy. And the bases are loaded. And he's going to have to bail the twins out of a bases-loaded situation in the eighth. One-0 to Harris. Swung on and ripped to the right side. A base hit. Olsen will score. Here comes Ozzie. They both come across. Tie game. That's the rally you've been looking for. Michael pulled his hands in and almost undressed Julian. He had no chance to glove that ball. It was hit like a bullet. Four apiece in the bottom of the eighth as the Braves have surged back here in the eighth inning. Now Drake Baldwin comes to the plate. He'll be pinch hitting for Nick Allen. Base hit means at least one run, maybe two. That is whacked up the middle to Basin in the center field. White scores. Braves have the lead. Here comes high single. Six-four Braves in the eighth. Braves, a team that was desperate for a jolt just like this. It seems the reports of the Braves' death has been greatly exaggerated. If they end up winning this ball game and circle this to be like this is when our season changes. Brooks Lee with an acrobatic catch to end the inning but all sorts of damage done by Atlanta. They pick up five runs in the eighth. Here's Kersey in the last chance for Minnesota. This game has turned dramatically. Comebacker knocked down by Iglesias. Underhand toss to the bag. Braves win. They were down four-one looking lifeless at the plate and a sudden surge of five runs in the eighth inning puts the Braves over the top as they shock the Twins in game one of this series.