The Boston Red Sox had quite the task these past three games. They played a Minnesota Twins team that has surprised many people this season. They are leading the American League Central by nine games. Red Sox fans were hoping that they could win this series against the Twins and turn a corner. They did just that as they took two out of three from the Twins. Let’s take a look back at the series, game by game.
Game 1: Red Sox 2 Twins 0
The Red Sox came into Target Field on Monday night looking to get off on the right foot. They did just that with a 2-0 victory. Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi started the inning with back to back hits before J.D. Martinez stepped to the plate. Martinez hit an RBI single to left field to drive home Mookie Betts for a 1-0 Sox lead.
The game would stay that way as both offenses would be shut down through the next seven innings. However, that changed in the ninth inning. With a runner on second and two outs, Xander Bogaerts hit a double to right center field. That put the Red Sox up 2-0 as that would conclude the scoring for the night.
While the offense was fairly quiet, Rick Porcello was the star of the night. He threw seven innings while giving up four hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts. Porcello came out and held one of the better offenses in baseball in check. It was a great start for him and for the Red Sox in this series.
Game 2: Twins 4 Red Sox 3 (17 Innings)
This one didn’t end up as great as the first one, as the Red Sox lost in 17 innings. There were some good highlights for the Red Sox in this one however. Rafael Devers had a go ahead homerun in the top of the seventh inning to keep up his hot first half of the 2019 season. Jackie Bradley Jr. just so happened to make another phenomenal catch in the seventh inning to keep a 2-1 lead at the time. Oh yeah, and Christian Vazquez picked off a runner at third base, so that was pretty cool!
The game ended with a Max Kepler single to walk it off in the 17th inning. Kepler also hit a homerun in the bottom of the 13th inning to tie the game 3-3. Brian Johnson suffered the loss on the mound. He gave up three hits, one walk, and one run in 1/3 of an inning pitched.
Even though the Red Sox lost this one, there were a lot of good things to highlight. Ryan Brasier and Matt Barnes threw scoreless innings. Benintendi, Brock Hot, and Devers each had three hits in the game as well. Plus, remember that it took the Twins 17 innings to beat the Red Sox. So, take that for what it’s worth.
Game 3: Red Sox 9 Twins 4
In game three, the Red Sox offense showed up. They scored nine runs and were able to come away with a 9-4 win. Eduardo Rodriguez had a gusty performance in this one. He pitched seven innings, gave up four runs, surrendered three walks while striking out nine batters. This wasn’t his best by any means, but it was good enough for the win. Rodriguez wasn’t the only one making contributions toward the Sox win last night. Xander Bogaerts had another milestone in his career, as he hit his 200th career double.
The Sox have won seven of their last eight. They also earned a series win, on the road, against a very good Twins team. Winning two out of three games is good in any series. For this Red Sox team, beating the Twins two out of three is a great sign for a lackluster 2019 season thus far.
This was a good sign for the Sox. They proved they can beat a good team on the road. Now, they can hopefully keep that momentum up with Toronto coming to town. There were many contributions from a lot of different players, which is the sign of a good team. Could the Red Sox have finally turned a corner? Stay tuned to find out!