Mistakes killed the Twins in a 5-4 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.
After taking a 4-2 lead in the top of the tenth inning, Twins lefty Jovani Moran struck out the leadoff batter in the bottom of the inning but he reached on a wild pitch. After a walk to load the bases, Reese McGuire slapped a two-run single to left to tie the game at 4-4.
After another single reloaded the bases, former Twin Rob Refsnyder grounded into a double play before Alex Verdugo won it with a walk-off fly ball that hit the foul line on corner of the wall in right field.
The loss is Minnesota’s third straight after they won two games at Yankee Stadium last weekend.
Byron Buxton drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly after Donovan Solano was hit by a pitch and Carlos Correa walked to load the bases in the top of the tenth. Jose Miranda followed suit with an RBI groundout to make it 4-2.
The only reason Boston had a chance was due to mistakes. In the eighth, catcher interference on Christian Vazquez helped the Red Sox tie the game 2-2.
Max Kepler’s solo homer to start the seventh inning put the Twins ahead 2-1.
Hello, bullpen. pic.twitter.com/YWKktBVBLr
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 19, 2023
Kepler’s homer was just the fourth hit of the night for Minnesota and it came immediately after Boston went to the bullpen following Chris Sale’s dominant six innings in which he struck out 11.
Buxton struck out in his first at-bat, marking 10 consecutive strikeouts by the Twins star. He snapped the streak by grounding into a fielder’s choice in the third inning and finished 0-for-3 with a walk and his tenth inning sacrifice fly.
Sonny Gray struck out seven in five innings of work. He has a 0.82 ERA in four starts this season.
