MINNEAPOLIS -- The Braves have struggled to score runs this year, ranking last in the majors in that department. As a result, its been rare that an Atlanta starting pitcher has been gifted an early lead to work with.Thanks to Freddie Freeman, the Braves bucked both trends Wednesday night.Freeman homered, doubled and tied a career high with five RBI as the Braves held off the Twins 9-7 for a two-game sweep.Atlanta finished the game with 16 hits, with each player in the lineup getting at least one.It was nice to see that, nice to get on board early, Freeman said. We were able to continue it all the way to the fifth and sixth inning. Thats all we needed tonight. The bullpen was fantastic.Freeman went 4 for 4 with a walk, driving in five runs for the fifth time in his career. His 18th homer gave the Braves a 7-0 lead in the fourth inning.The Twins closed to 8-7 in the sixth on an RBI grounder by Joe Mauer. Nick Markakis singled home a run in the Atlanta eighth.Mike Foltynewicz (4-4) got the win despite giving up seven runs and 12 hits in 5 1/3 innings. Jim Johnson pitched the ninth for his fourth save.Hard-throwing righty Mauricio Cabrera also played a big role out of Atlantas bullpen. He struck out three batters in 1 1/3 innings, hitting 101 mph on the Target Field radar gun.Cabrera picked up a big strikeout of Miguel Sano to end a Twins threat in the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh inning to keep it a one-run game.We talked the other night about bringing him into stressful innings, Braves interim manager Brian Snitker. I think more than probably 80 percent of the times Ive brought him in, its been game on the line or a big situation. His presence is really, really good.Twins starter Tyler Duffey (5-8) was chased in the second. The right-hander gave up five runs on eight hits, including a two-run homer by Jeff Francoeur in the first inning.It was the second straight outing in which Duffey has lasted less than three innings.Its really frustrating when it piles up like that, and you give up the singles, and you give up the hard-hit ball, Duffey said. Watching a game like that, we come back fighting like that, end up losing, and it started with me.Atlanta and Minnesota entered the series with the two worst records in the majors. The Braves are 35-66, the Twins are 37-63.The Braves are now 9-5 in regular-season matchups against the team it lost to in the 1991 World Series.Freeman added a two-run homer in the fourth off Michael Tonkin. It was the third four-hit game of the season for Freeman, who leads the Braves with 106 hits.A day after getting shut out, the Twins scored in the fourth on a double by Eddie Rosario. Kurt Suzuki added a two-run homer later in the inning.We pecked away at them, got back into the game, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. They added on a couple that proved to be the difference at the end of the game. But we had chances right down to the end.BRAVES MAKE A DEALPrior to the game, Atlanta dealt right-hander Lucas Harrell and left-hander Dario Alvarez to the Texas Rangers for infield prospect Travis Demeritte.Demeritte, 21, represented the United States in this months All-Star Futures Game in San Diego. In 88 games with High A High Desert, he batted .272 with 25 home runs and 59 RBI.In five starts with the Braves this year, Harrell was 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA. Alvarez made 16 relief appearances this season for Atlanta and had a 3.00 ERA in 15 innings.UP NEXTBraves: Return to Atlanta to begin a four-game series against Philadelphia beginning Thursday. Right-hander Matt Wisler (4-10, 4.92 ERA) will start for the Braves.Twins: Host Baltimore on Thursday for a makeup of a game that was rained out on May 9. Right-hander Kyle Gibson (3-6, 4.67) starts for Minnesota. Cheap Air Max 90 Online . The defending champion beat Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (6), 6-3, while second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain dispatched Edouard Roger-Vasselin, also of France, 6-3, 6-3. Making his first appearance since injuring his wrist a month ago, Del Potro had difficulty with his service games in the first set. Cheap Air Max 90 Running Shoes . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. http://www.cheapairmax90fromchina.com/ . 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Jamaica Tallawahs 95 for 1 (Gayle 54, Walton 25*, Emrit 1-13) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 95 (Tanvir 42, Imad 3-21, Williams 2-12, Shakib 2-25) by nine wicketsScorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA rematch from Wednesdays first Caribbean Premier League playoff qualifier between the regular seasons top two teams quickly turned into an uncontested romp for Jamaica Tallawahs, who rampaged past Guyana Amazon Warriors by nine wickets to claim their second CPL title on Sunday night at Warner Park. For Warriors, it was a flat effort that left them runner-up for the third time in four CPL seasons, twice to Tallawahs.Warriors were the regular season table-toppers and beat Tallawahs in two of their prior three meetings, including by four wickets in Wednesdays opening playoff match. On Sunday, however, they stumbled badly after being sent in by Chris Gayle at the toss and were bowled out for a franchise record low total of 93 in just 16.1 overs. Warriors never won a game while batting first in 2016, and lost all three games in which they batted first, with two of those losses coming against Tallawahs.Warriors were under pressure early when Nic Maddinson became the first of three batsmen dismissed first ball, edging Andre Russell behind in the first over. A bigger blow came at the start of the third over when Chris Lynn, the tournaments leading scorer, carved Shakib Al Hasan straight to Jonathan Foo at backward point for 7.Left-handed Sohail Tanvir was promoted up the order to No. 4 in an attempt to combat the left-arm spin threat posed by Shakib and Imad Wasim. At an individual level, the plan worked as Tanvir top-scored with 42 off 37 balls, but the rest of his team-mates struggled. Despite Tanvirs calm, chaos was ever-present at the opposite end. Dwayne Smith was one of just two others apart from Tanvir to reach double-figures but his stay ended for 17 when he top-edged a pull off Oshane Thomas to Rovman Powell at mid-on to make it 50 for 3 in the eighth.With the top three removed, Shakib and eventual Man of the Match Imad Wasim set about tearing through the middle order in ruthless fashion.dddddddddddd Jason Mohammed was trapped playing down the wrong line to an arm ball from Shakib for a golden duck to make it 53 for 4 before Imad took the first of his three wickets as Christopher Barnwell mistimed a slog to Gayle at short midwicket for 10. Two balls later, Anthony Bramble was bowled backing away for a slog and Imad claimed his third in four balls to start the 15th when Rayad Emrit was stumped for nought missing a flick to a leg-side wide to make it 83 for 7.Kesrick Williams also was on a hat-trick in the 16th over - he had Tanvir caught by Foo running in from the midwicket boundary, and followed it up with a gem of a delivery that jagged back in to knock Steven Jacobs off stump for 7. Adam Zampa survived the hat-trick ball to end the over, but was out one ball later after failing to ground his bat coming back for a second run with Williams relay from long leg to Sangakkara producing the end of the innings.Gayle propelled the chase with his third fifty-plus score of the season, reaching his half-century off 22 balls and ending up with 54 off 27 balls. He was dismissed flicking Emrit to Jacobs at deep midwicket. The Tallawahs captain ended the campaign as his sides leading scorer with 425 runs, third overall behind Lynn and St Lucia Zouks Johnson Charles. Gayles opening partner Chadwick Walton steered the rest of the chase with 25 not out, ending seventh overall in the CPL run charts with 301 runs and second for Tallawahs.However, it was the old pro Kumar Sangakkara who struck the winning runs with a four smeared wide of long-on off Veerasammy Permaul to clinch the title with 7.1 overs to spare. Russell was named Player of the Tournament thanks in large part to his scintillating 100 in Fridays knockout game against Trinbago Knight Riders. Russell struck the fastest century in Caribbean T20 history, off just 42 balls, and also broke a three-game Tallawahs losing streak lifting them into the final. ' ' '
