Braves take series

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Twins got a glimpse of what they're hoping to become.

The Atlanta Braves used dominant starting pitching to take two of three games from the Twins, winning 3-2 Wednesday night behind rookie Damian Moss.

While the Twins came of age last season and now lead the AL Central by four games over Chicago, the Braves are using a time-tested formula to lead the NL East, as they mostly have since these teams last met in the 1991 World Series.

"Our formula for winning this year has been pitching, defense and timely hitting," Chipper Jones said.

On Wednesday, Moss provided the pitching, Andruw Jones the defense and Rafael Furcal and Gary Sheffield the timely hitting.

The Braves won for the eighth time in nine games and are 20-6 since May 15. They lead their division by 5 1/2 games.

Moss (3-2) pitched seven shutout innings, gave up just two hits, and struck out a career-high eight. He allowed only one Twins runner as far as second base, and picked off two.

"He threw a lot of strikes tonight," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "That's not an easy thing to say to a young pitcher -- go out and throw it over the plate."

Moss got some help from Andruw Jones, a four-time Gold Glove winner, in the seventh. Jones made a running catch of Torii Hunter's fly to the warning track in center field, then took a few steps and fired a throw to first baseman Wes Helms to double up Matthew LeCroy.

"That's why he's the greatest center fielder in the game, probably the history of the game," Moss said. "When Hunter hit it, I thought it was gone."

Furcal had three hits and scored twice for Atlanta, and Sheffield hit his 10th homer of the season and drove in two runs.

ATLANTA MINNESOTA

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Furcal ss 5 2 3 0 Rivas 2b 3 0 0 0

JuFrco dh 4 0 0 0 JJones ph 1 0 0 0

Shffield rf 3 1 2 2 CGzmn ss 4 1 2 0

CJones lf 4 0 3 0 Mntkw 1b 4 1 1 1

AJones cf 1 0 0 0 LeCroy dh 3 0 1 0

Castilla 3b 4 0 0 0 Koskie ph 1 0 0 1

JLopez c 4 0 0 0 THnter cf 4 0 0 0

Helms 1b 4 0 0 0 Kielty rf 2 0 0 0

JGarca 2b 4 0 0 0 Mohr lf 3 0 0 0

Przyns c 3 0 1 0

Hcking 3b 1 0 0 0

Totals 33 3 8 2 Totals 29 2 5 2

Atlanta 100 010 100 -- 3

Minnesota 000 000 002 -- 2

DP--Atlanta 1, Minnesota 1. LOB--Atlanta 7, Minnesota 3. 2B--Furcal 2 (11), CGuzman (9). 3B--Mientkiewicz (1). HR--Sheffield (10). SB--Furcal (15). CS--CGuzman (7).

IP H R ER BB SO

Atlanta

Moss W,3-2 7 2 0 0 2 8

Remlinger 1 1 0 0 0 2

Smoltz S,19 1 2 2 2 0 1

Minnesota

Santana L,1-1 4 2-3 7 2 2 3 8

Romero 1 1-3 0 0 0 0 0

Hawkins 1 1 1 1 0 1

MJackson 1 0 0 0 0 0

Guardado 1 0 0 0 0 1

HBP--by MJackson (AJones), by Moss (Kielty). WP--Santana 2. PB--JLopez.

Umpires--Home, C.B. Bucknor; First, Mark Carlson; Second, Wally Bell; Third, Mike Fichter.

T--2:50. A--21,485 (48,678).