Atlanta chipped away with 2 runs in the 5th and finished with 7 hits to Minnesota's 10, but the deficit dug in that first frame was too much to climb out of. It's the kind of quick-strike loss that erases a lot of the good process a start can otherwise have.
For Minnesota, the win snaps a rough stretch that included blowing a 5-run lead in Sunday's finale against the Phillies — the kind of bullpen letdown that had manager Derek Shelton publicly frustrated. Getting 4 runs before the other team's ace settled in is the tidiest possible antidote to that.
For Atlanta, Pérez's story all year has been resilience — designated for assignment in April before working his way back into a rotation gutted by injuries to Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach and Reynaldo López. One shaky first inning at Target Field doesn't erase that, but it's a reminder the margin for error on this staff is thin.