Twins snap Red Sox streak
MINNEAPOLIS — Max Kepler delivered the sighof-relief winner for Minnesota on the last day of a rough first homestand of the season.
The Boston Red Sox relentlessly kept the Twins from being comfortable all series.
Kepler’s bloop RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Minnesota a 4-3 victory Thursday over Boston — stopping a five-game losing streak for the Twins and breaking a nine-game winning string for the Red Sox.
“It’s impossible to go out and play baseball and not feel it when it’s going really well or when it’s not going really well. It’s really how you harness that,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.
Luis Arraez, ever the team sparkplug who went 4 for 5 with a two-run single, let those emotions loose as he raced home on Kepler’s hit off Adam Ottavino (1-1) and belly-flopped into home plate.
The Twins avoided matching their longest losing streak in three years under Baldelli, a six-game slide from July 31-Aug. 5, 2020.
The Red Sox, who tied it in the eighth on Alex Verdugo’s three-run double, were on their longest winning streak since a 10-game run in 2018, the season they won the World Series.
“We ended up losing a game with a jam shot to
center field. That’s not bad,” said manager Alex Cora, who was ejected for arguing in the eighth. “We just beat the American League Central champions, three out of four. We’ve been playing good baseball.”
Alex Colome (1-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory, despite a one-out double by Christian Arroyo. Verdugo capped a 10-pitch at-bat against Taylor Rogers with his two-out double in the eighth that made it 3-all. The Red Sox had loaded the bases against Hansel Robles.
Five times during their winning streak, the Red Sox rallied from a deficit in the fifth inning or later.
“It’s been fun. I told you guys earlier in the year that this is a sneaky good team,” said Garrett Richards, who stretched Boston’s streak of 10 straight games with the starting pitcher completing at least five innings.
Michael Pineda allowed only two singles over seven
scoreless innings for the Twins, who had a home run by slump-ridden slugger Miguel Sano in the sixth.
Using his trusty slider to help tame the top-scoring team in the American League, Pineda retired 14 straight batters at one point. He walked one and struck out six, throwing 88 pitches.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: DH J.D. Martinez and IF Marwin Gonzalez were out of the starting lineup to rest, four games into a 14-game, 13day stretch. “We’ve just got to be careful with the workload with all those guys,” Cora said.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: Host the Chicago White Sox in a fourgame series starting Friday. RHP Nick Pivetta (2-0, 3.27 ERA) will take the mound for the opener. The White Sox had yet to announce their starter.