An ATL buddy of mine was at the game in Minneapolis last night & asked me for a few places to see in town. So, I rattled off a few obvious spots… a cool Irish pub near the stadium that serves a great walleye fish-&-chips, First Avenue, the famed live-music club where they filmed Prince’s “Purple Rain,” and the attached 7th Street Entry, the tiny, punk club that gave us The Replacements, Hüsker Dü & Soul Asylum.

I told him, look up when you’re walking downtown and you’ll see a skyway or two, just like the great Replacements song, and definitely go to the outdoor Nicollet Mall where you’ll see a bronze statue of Mary Tyler Moore tossing her hat in the air like she did in the famous intro of her groundbreaking ‘70s TV show. If you’ve got a rental car, I said, you might wanna venture out to Paisley Park (Prince’s studio) or the Mall of America, which is so big there’s a rollercoaster inside.

Of course, after this series… I’m thinking less about the music and more about a scene from a movie by the Coen Brothers, the great filmmaking siblings, who grew up in St. Louis Park, a Twin Cities suburb.

Ever see “Fargo” (the movie, not the TV show)? There’s a climactic scene where the scarily taciturn criminal (played by Peter Stormare) turns on his chatty accomplice (Steve Buscemi). After initially taking an axe to him – just wait, it gets better – Stormare attempts to rid himself of all the evidence via wood chipper. It doesn’t work out for him either.

And it didn’t work out for our Atlanta Braves in the northern environs of Minnesota. After laying down like Marie Antoinette for the Phillies this past weekend, the Twins took us to the wood chipper in this series, as they completed a three-game sweep with a 6-4 win at Target Field in Minneapolis this afternoon. The lead over Philadelphia currently stands at 5 games with a Phils/Marlins tilt to be played tonight.

Starter AJ Smith-Shawver returned to the big-league mound three weeks after he’d been called up for an emergency start at Citi Field – a decent 4.2-inning effort. Now featured in what seems to be a 6-man rotation – gotta keep Chris Sale in one piece, right? – AJSS started strong mixing sinker, splitter & 4-seamer, plus the occasional slider and curve. Six up, six down.

Two odd plays got the Braves in trouble in the bottom of the 3rd. After AJSS gave up a one-out walk and a single, Luke Keaschall popped a bunt just into the no-mans-land between the mound and 2nd base to load ’em up. Georgia native Byron Buxton then grounded to Jim Jarvis in the hole between short and third. For some reason, Jarvis didn’t take the easy out right in front of him – throw to Riley at third and you have out #2, giving up a run. Instead, he went to second, but was late with the throw – 1-0 MIN, based still loaded & one out. Fortunately, Josh Bell bounced into a nifty 3-6-1 DP to survive the inning down just one run.

Trouble found the Braves again in the bottom of the 4th. After a one-out single, Royce Lewis stole second & advanced to third when Jarvis whiffed on Drake’s perfectly fine, albeit late, throw. AJSS wriggled out of trouble with a strikeout of Trevor Larnach on a sharp splitter and a 6-3 ground out that Jarvis executed just fine. (He’s making me a little nervous in the field, y’all.)

Meanwhile, the Braves offensive woes continued, as they were making Stone Mountain native/Redan HS grad Taj Bradley look like an all-star with only one hit & 2 BBs thru 4 IP. But in the 5th with 2 outs, Bradley got a little wild, walking Riley, then Jarvis. On a 2-2 count, RAJ laced a flat cutter into LF for an RBI single to tie things. Bradley then struck out Drake w/ 2 on & finished the 5th w/ 88 pitches.

Bottom 5 w/ one out, Kaelen Culpepper (a liner to left) & Keaschall (a dunker to right) both singled. Then, after an 8-pitch AB, Buxton worked a walk to load the bases & Josh Bell worked another to take the lead – 2-1 MIN. WW then pulled AJSS in favor of lefty Dylan Dodd, who inherited a one-out/bases-loaded mess.

It got messier. Kody Clemens, son of The Rocket, just missed a GSHR, as his bomb to RCF hit high off the wall for a 2-RBI double – 4-1 MIN.

Things Got Better Dept.: In the 6th, LHP Kody Funderburk replaced Bradley for the Twins and Olson, Harris & PH Lane Thomas all greeted him with consecutive singles to creep within 2 runs. Ozzie lofted an RBI sac-fly to RF, scoring Harris, to make it 4-3. Lucky for us, the Twins’ IF misplayed the relay, allowing Thomas to take 2nd.

Twins manager Derek Shelton pulled Mr. Funderburk for 35-year-old middle man Tommy Nance, who promptly allowed a bloop single to Mauricio Dubón, putting runners on the corners. Then, apparently distracted by Dubón’s Jackie Robinson routine at first, Nance committed a balk to tie the game, 4-4. (With the runner on 2nd, both Riley & Jarvis whiffed to end the inning.)

Victor Mederos was working an uneventful bottom of the 6th inning, until it became rather eventful for him. With 2 outs, Culpepper lined one “off his wallet,” as they say, for an infield hit. (Reminded me a little bit of the RBI single that Ron Gant once smashed off Dave Burba’s tuchus.) Mederos & his sore rump seemed to recover just fine, as he closed the inning scoreless.

Bottom 7, Josh Bell legged out a gap double off Mederos, who was replaced by Dylan Lee. Unfortunately, the usually reliable Lee gave up an RBI single to Clemens. After an infield out advanced Clemens to 2nd and an intentional walk, Twins 3B Brooks Lee – named after Brooks Robinson, apparently, but he sounds like a preppy martial artist – delivered a second RBI single off our own Lee, putting Minnesota up 6-4. Other than an 8th inning Ozzie double and a protested Dubón strikeout that saw WW get ejected (taking a bullet for Dubón), there was little excitement afterward. The Braves went down in order in the 9th.

So, that’s only 4 wins in the last 12 games, reducing the lead over Philly in a relative flash. Gotta pick it back up, as the next 7 games are against 3 first-place clubs – ChiSox, Brew Crew & the Dodgers.

Tomorrow afternoon (2:10 ET) finds the Braves on the South Side of Chicago for a makeup game vs. the AL-Central leading White Sox. Grant Holmes (7-5, 3.82 ERA) vs. LHP Anthony Kay (7-5, 4.01). Go Braves.