Red Sox - 000 100 100 000 100 00 - 3 17 0 Twins - 000 100 010 000 100 01 - 4 15 1Max Kepler, who had already rescued the Twins twice, with a game-tying single in the eighth inning and a long, game-tying home run into the second deck in the thirteenth, did it again in the seventeenth, ripping a bases-loaded single (on the 487th pitch of the night) just inside the right field line, scoring Luis Arraez.
The deciding run came off Brian Johnson, Boston's ninth pitcher of the night, who had given up one-out single to Arraez and a double to the right-field wall to Eddie Rosario. After a mound visit, Mookie Betts came in just behind second base, making a five-man infield. C.J. Cron was intentionally walked. Kepler took a ball, then cemented his status as Tuesday night's hero for the home team.
Before the game began, manager Alex Cora said the vibe around the team "is different ... There's no more searching. You feel it. You come to the ballpark every day now and it feels like last year." Then, after a game lasting 5:45, the Red Sox went 1-for-13 with RATS and left 14 men on base and watched their winning streak came to an end at six games.
For a while, it was looking as though Rafael Devers might be the man of the moment. His two-out single scored Betts with the game's first run and he led off the seventh with his 12th home run of the year. But Minnesota tied the game both times: Cron singled in Rosario, who had doubled with two outs in the fourth and Kepler came through in the eighth after Brandon Workman had walked two Twins and thrown a wild pitch.
Mookie Betts began the top of the thirteenth with a drive off the screen attached to the left field foul pole. But Kepler matched that dong in the bottom half, sending Hector Velázquez's fourth pitch into next week (or at least to deep right-center).
In 17 innings, there are going to be plenty of squanders - and the Red Sox certainly had their share. In the top of the tenth, Brock Holt doubled off Tyler Duffey and went to third on Michael Chavis's groundout to third. Jackie Bradley was hit in the foot by a pitch. But Christian Vázquez popped Duffey's first pitch to shallow right and Betts drove an 1-0 pitch to the warning track in right-center. Kepler made the catch about two steps in front of the wall. Boston had runners at first and second with two outs in the twelfth, but Vázquez struck out.
The Red Sox had a man in "scoring position" in three of the last four innings. In the fourteenth, Holt and Chavis both singled and Bradley bunted them over (though the play went catcher to shortstop (Chavis was called safe) to the second baseman covering first). Vázquez choked again, popping the first pitch to second. (SN stranded seven runners, more than any other batter in the game.) Betts took two balls before he was given first base. Andrew Benintendi tapped a grounder to second. Betts tried to screen Jonathan Schoop, but the Twins infielder made the play.
Xander Bogaerts doubled with two down in the fifteenth, but Holt's eight-pitch at-bat ended with a strikeout. Vázquez's two-out single in the sixteenth was wasted when Betts popped to first.
The squander in the seventeenth was perhaps the worst of the night. Benintendi lined a single to right. When J.D. Martinez (who finished the night 0-for-8, with five strikeouts) swung and missed Zack Littell's 0-1 pitch, Benintendi stole second and went to third on a wild throw. Man on third, no one out. ... Sounds good, but the Twins got three outs from three batters on three goddamn pitches. JDM tried to check his swing on the next pitch, but was rung up. Devers tapped the first pitch down the first base line. Cron gloved it, looked Benny back to third. Devers stopped running, so Cron flipped the ball to Schoop at first. And Bogaerts sent a routine grounder to third on the first fuckin pitch.
Three great plays in the field for Boston: Vázquez picked off Mitch Garver, who had led off the sixth with a double, off third base. The Twins still managed to load the bases against Mike Shawaryn, but Shaw-dini wriggled out of trouble. Devers was the lone man on the left side of the infield and was in perfect position to make a fantastic diving, tumbling catch of Arraez's line drive to end the fourteenth.
And in the fifteenth, after Rosario doubled over Mookie's head, Chavis, at first base, caught Cron's line drive and ran towards second as Rosario and Bogaerts raced back to the bag. Bogaerts got there first and caught Chavis's throw just as he got to, and stepped on, the bag. Then Velazquez fired six changeups to Kepler. The first five were all low in the zone and the count was full when he threw the sixth one right down the pipe for called strike three. Maybe Hector should have thrown another (a fifth) inning.
David Price pitched only five innings and threw 73 pitches (5-4-1-0-2, 73). A spokesman for the team said Price did not come out of the game because of an injury. Josh Taylor looked good in the tenth and eleventh, giving up only one single and striking out four. ... The Red Sox's pitchers threw 259 pitches and the Twins' pitchers threw 228.
AL East: MFY 6, Rays 3. ... MFY –, TBR 2.5, BOS 6.5.
Betts, RFAL East: MFY –, TBR 1.5, BOS 5.5. ... Rays/MFY, 7 PM.
Benintendi, LF
Martinez, DH
Devers, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Holt, 2B
Chavis, 1B
Bradley, CF
Vázquez, C
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