Devers leads Red Sox to seventh straight victory
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rafael Devers homered for the fourth straight game and the streaking Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 4-2 on a snowy Tuesday afternoon in a series opener moved back following the fatal police shooting of a Black man in a nearby suburb.
Hunter Renfroe hit a solo homer and Bobby Dalbec added a pair of RBI doubles as Boston won its seventh in a row after losing its first three games of the season.
Monday's game was postponed due to safety and sensitivity concerns in the Twin Cities after the police shooting a day earlier of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. The Twins held a moment of silence for Wright prior to Tuesday's game.
Snow flurries fell for most of the game and it was 33 degrees for the first pitch. That made for the third-coldest start at Target Field, the record being 27 degrees on April 7, 2018.
Adam Ottavino (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Matt Barnes pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season.
Randy Dobnak (0-2) took the loss for Minnesota, which has lost three in a row.
Christian Arroyo led off the eighth against Dobnak with a double and scored on Dalbec's second double of the game to right field to break a 2-all tie. Arroyo had two hits and scored on both of Dalbec's doubles.
Devers hit a long home run in the ninth off Jorge Alcala. Devers started the season 0 for 13 but is 9 for 22 (.409) since — he has five home runs and 10 RBI in his last four games.
ATHLETICS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 5
PHOENIX (AP) — Jed Lowrie hit a tying, threerun homer in the seventh inning, Seth Brown had a solo shot in the next frame and the Athletics rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Diamondbacks.
The Diamondbacks appeared to be cruising to their third win in four games.
Carson Kelly hit a threerun homer in the second inning and Arizona scored two more in the third. Zac Gallen struck out eight in his season debut and gave up one run in four innings, on Stephen Piscotty's solo homer.
Arizona's bullpen was sharp before unraveling in the seventh inning.
Mark Canha made it 5-2 win an RBI single and Lowrie followed with a three-run homer off Kevin Ginkel. Brown led off the eighth with his homer off Anthony Swarzak (0-1) and Matt Chapman's run-scoring triple off the wall in the ninth made it 7-5.Yusmeiro Petit (3-0) got the final out in the seventh inning and Lou Trevino worked around a walk in the ninth for his first save.
Gallen escaped a firstand-third jam with one out in the first inning and worked through more traffic until Piscotty hit his first pitch of the fourth out to left. He allowed a run on three hits in four innings.