Matt Olson continues to impress, even if his manager sometimes struggles to find the right words to describe his achievements.
“He’s just a special player doing special things,” Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss said.
Olson and the Braves will try to continue their special season when they square off against the Minnesota Twins on Monday evening in Minneapolis. It is the opener of a three-game series between the teams.
This time, Atlanta will go for back-to-back wins after rallying for a 5-3 victory against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday. The score was tied at 2 before the Braves broke through with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Meanwhile, the Twins will try to bounce back after the Philadelphia Phillies swept them in a three-game series.
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (7-4, 4.64 ERA) is set to make his 19th start. He is looking for his first victory since July 17 against the Chicago Cubs, when he allowed five hits and two runs in 5 1/3 innings to earn the 5-2 win.
Ober hopes to rebound from a tough performance his last time out in which he gave up five runs on eight hits in six innings against the Baltimore Orioles. In his only career start against the Braves, he gave up nine runs on seven hits in two innings to earn a loss and a 40.50 ERA.
Ober will try to slow down Olson, who has been a big part of the Braves’ success this season. Olson was 1-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs in Sunday’s victory.
“It’s tough to stay within yourself on that 3-0 count,” Weiss said after Sunday’s victory. “Not only did he stay within himself, he hits it to the biggest part of the field. Really good.”
Olson is hitting .264 with 36 homers and 77 RBIs on the season.
Braves infielder Austin Riley also will try to pose a threat at the plate. After a very slow start to the season, Riley is hitting .319 in August.
“Look at his numbers since the break,” Weiss said. “Pretty darn good, man. We talked about that narrative most of the first half. A couple of his teammates went through it last year in Ozzie (Albies) and Michael (Harris II) and then turned it around. I think Austin is doing the same thing.”
The Braves will counter on Monday with left-hander Martin Perez (8-6, 2.96), who is one victory shy of reaching No. 100 for his career. He is 99-99 with a 4.32 ERA in 348 career appearances.
Perez is 1-4 with a 4.88 ERA in 14 career games (nine starts) against Minnesota.
Twins manager Derek Shelton said he has confidence in his team despite a tough start to August.
“We got walked off twice in Seattle,” Shelton said. “We got walked off in Milwaukee.
“We did not play well in this series. We didn’t play well at the ‘Field of Dreams’ game. We went 1-for-13, 14 with runners in scoring position. (On Sunday), we got the lead and we were not able to add on and we did not hold. So, yeah, it’s very frustrating.”
–Field Level Media
