Minnesota Twins rally in late innings for 5-4 victory over Red Sox to take series

BOSTON – The Twins waited about a week for their clutch hits to arrive, watching low-scoring, close losses pile up throughout their seven-game road trip. Finally, on Sunday at Fenway Park, signs of life arrived for a struggling offense.

First, it was Ryan Jeffers in the seventh inning. Trailing by two runs to the Boston Red Sox, Jeffers lined a game-tying, two-run single over the head of left fielder Jarren Duran. Jeffers clapped his hands and pumped his fist at first base.

Harrison Bader, in the eighth inning, connected on an elevated fastball in a two-strike count, launching the pitch from Red Sox reliever Justin Slaten to the left-field wall for a go-ahead RBI double. Bader scored on a single from Trevor Larnach, jumping up with joy after he slid across the plate, and the Twins earned a 5-4 comeback victory to end their road trip.

The Twins took two of three games from the Red Sox, picking up their first victory of the season when trailing after six innings.

“It’s not only about the wins,” shortstop Carlos Correa said. “It’s about how hard fought they were.”

The Twins had an immediate 1-0 lead when Byron Buxton lifted Garrett Crochet’s first pitch over the Green Monster for his seventh home run of the season. It was the second time in the past week a Twins batter homered on the game’s first pitch, joining Edouard Julien, who did it last Monday in Cleveland.

That was all the offense could muster against Crochet, who lowered his ERA to 2.02, but they scored four two-out runs against the Boston bullpen after driving up Crochet’s pitch count and forcing him out after five innings.

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Bader drew a leadoff walk against reliever Garrett Whitlock in the seventh, and Christian Vázquez dropped a one-out single into center before Jeffers delivered his game-tying hit.

Correa started the eighth-inning rally when his line drive deflected off shortstop David Hamilton’s glove into the outfield. Correa scored from first base on Bader’s double.

“Staying present, I think, is a big theme to what we’ve got going on here,” Bader said.

BOXSCORE: Twins 5, Boston 4

MLB standings

The Twins nearly imploded in the second inning. It started when Wilyer Abreu hit a fly ball into shallow left field, and third baseman Jonah Bride initially waved for the ball. As the ball carried a little deeper into left field, Bride pulled away and the ball dropped between Bride and Larnach to give the Red Sox a free baserunner.

Romy Gonzalez followed Abreu with a single, and they both advanced on a sacrifice bunt. With a one-run lead in the second inning, the Twins opted to play with their infield drawn in. It backfired when Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez hit a high chopper over the drawn-in infield for a two-run single.

The Red Sox, again, had runners on second and third with one out when Ceddanne Rafaela hit a double. Twins starter Chris Paddack induced a shallow fly ball to center against Duran, and Correa raced from his drawn-in position at shortstop to make an impressive over-the-shoulder catch while reaching out with his glove. The catch saved at least one run.

“Honestly, off the bat I didn’t think it was possible I was going to get it,” Correa said. “I just started running and when I looked up, I felt like I was getting closer and closer. I stretched my arm as far as possible, and the ball landed there.”

Said Paddack: “That, for me, was the highlight of the game. That kept me locked in, hyped me up.”

Paddack surrendered another run in the third inning, a sacrifice fly, but he retired his final eight batters. He rebounded after throwing 75 pitches across the first three innings, giving up three runs in five innings.

“Just proud of myself for looking myself in the mirror and saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got to keep the boys in this,’” Paddack said. “I think the young Chris Paddack wouldn’t have been able to put zeros up there in the fourth and fifth [innings].”

Twins reliever Griffin Jax gave up a solo homer to Abreu in the eighth inning, but Jhoan Duran secured the save in front of 33,539 fans, striking out Jarren Duran on three pitches with a runner on first to end the game. The Twins completed their seven-game road trip through Cleveland and Boston with a 3-4 record.

“Our starters gave us great opportunities to win all week long,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think there is a lot of good that is going to come out of this trip. Some of those games, we’re going to find ways to push runs across the board. You’re going to find ways to win games when you’re playing like we’ve been playing.”