A body found inside a beer cooler at the major league home of the Atlanta Braves belongs to a Minnesota inventor who was doing contract work
at the
stadium
Kris
Letang Jersey , police in Atlanta’s suburbs said Wednesday.
Cobb County police on Wednesday identified him as Todd Keeling, 48, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Keeling had worked an overnight shift for a beverage vendor, authorities said. A co-worker found his body inside the beer cooler at SunTrust Park before
Tuesday night’s Braves vs. Cincinnati Reds game.
An autopsy was planned Wednesday to help determine how he died, Cobb County police spokeswoman Sarah O’Hara said.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death, agency spokesman Michael D’Aquino told The Associated Press.
The Braves declined to comment.
Keeling was an inventor, and had been at SunTrust Park to install his patented beer-pouring technology when he died, a relative told an Atlanta
newspaper.
In October 2016, the United States issued the patent for the invention, which features ”a new nozzle for a beer valve tap and a new foamless beer tap
dispensing system,” government records show.
”This is his dream since he was a kid,” his aunt
Mario
Lemieux Jersey , Fran Kuchta, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution .
Keeling had already worked to get beer technology installed at The Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins’ stadiums, and was excited about the technology
being added to SunTrust Park, Kuchta said.
Just this week, Braves officials showed off the new technology to local news reporters, saying it will allow beers to be poured about three times faster than
in the past.
SunTrust Park is northwest of Atlanta, near Smyrna, Georgia.
Reynaldo Lopez had just walked in a run when Shin-Soo Choo came up with a chance to give
Texas a lead while extending the longest on-base streak in the majors this
season.
The White Sox right-hander recorded that key out , and Chicago responded with a five-run fifth inning that included Matt Davidson’s two-run double in a 10-5
victory over the Rangers on Sunday.
”You have to be confident in yourself every time, 100 percent,” Lopez said through an interpreter. ”Have confidence in your pitches, and execute your
pitches and execute a plan. I think that was the key for me that inning.”
Avisail Garcia had four hits and Davidson and Jose Abreu drove in three runs apiece to help the White Sox avoid a sweep to start a 10-game road trip, their
longest of the season. Davidson had his second straight three-hit game.
Choo extended the on-base streak to 42 games with an eighth-inning walk after going 0 for 4 against
Lopez
Matt
Murray Jersey , including the strikeout looking with the bases loaded in a
2-2 tie to end the fourth.
Leading off as the designated hitter after missing a game with a strained right quadriceps that the club said will limit him defensively for a few weeks,
Choo’s hitting streak ended at 12 games. The on-base streak is the third-longest
streak in club history, and longest since 1995.
Lopez (4-5) made it through 6 1/3 innings in the boiling Texas heat – a first-pitch temperature of 97 degrees that climbed past 100 before the last of
Lopez’s career-high 114 pitches. The right-hander allowed seven hits and two
runs with six strikeouts.
”I didn’t feel tired in any moment of the game,” Lopez said. ”But right now, yes. Especially because today’s game, a day game with the heat, and I feel
really tired.”
One-time Texas closer Joakim Soria pitched around two singles in the ninth and had three strikeouts in a five-out save. It was his 12th save of the season
in his 14th consecutive scoreless appearance. It was also his first five-out
save since 2009.
Five straight Chicago hitters reached with one out in the five-run fifth against Texas ace Cole Hamels, starting with ninth-hitting Adam Engel on a wild
pitch after a strikeout.
Tim Anderson doubled, Garcia hit a run-scoring single and Abreu had an infield single before Davidson’s double off the bottom of the 14-foot wall in
left field.
Garcia had two doubles and one of two triples for the White Sox, who started the day tied for second in the majors with 23 triples. Abreu’s RBIs were on a
groundout, a triple and a sacrifice fly.
Hamels (4-7) gave up a season-high seven earned runs on nine hits, which tied the season high from his previous start. The left-hander matched a season low
with five innings amid talk of a deadline trade with the Rangers in last place
in the AL West.
”The heat’s the heat,” said Hamels
Olli
Maatta Jersey , whose ERA in home starts went up to 5.83 while that number
in day games ballooned to 7.53. ”It doesn’t really have any sort of effect on
locating a pitch. I think it’s a lot of the times you just get into a rhythm or
you get outside of your rhythm and you just don’t slow it down.”
GOING EXTRAS
There weren’t any homers while the teams combined for 15 runs and 25 hits. But there were nine extra-base hits, including five doubles by the White Sox.
Joey Gallo had a two-run triple for the Rangers on a ball that was misplayed in
the gap by Engel, the center fielder, and Garcia, who was playing right.
SHORT HOPS
Rougned Odor reached all five times, a career high, with two walks and three singles for Texas. … Soria recorded his second save of at least four outs this
season. … Hamels had at least seven strikeouts without a walk for the first time
in almost two years. … Garcia’s four hits were a season high, and Abreu matched
his best this year with three RBIs.
TRAINER’S ROOM
White Sox: LF Leury Garcia left after striking out in the fifth inning with a jammed finger on his left hand. He will re-evaluated Monday.
Rangers: Manager Jeff Banister was noncommittal on the next outing for LHP Martin Perez (right elbow). He’s had two straight scoreless rehab outings. Perez
has been on the disabled list since April 30.
UP NEXT
White Sox: RHP James Shields (3-9, 4.29 ERA) is scheduled for the opener of a three-game interleague series in Cincinnati on Monday. He is 1-4 with a 5.97 ERA
in six road games this season, including five starts.
Rangers: RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx (1-1, 3.57) is scheduled for the opener of a two-game series against Houston on Tuesday. He pitched five scoreless innings in
a no-decision against San Diego on Tuesday.
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