September 23 – Romy Gonzalez hit a three-run home run and drove in four runs, helping the Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 9–3 in Game 2 on Sunday.
Gonzalez gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead by homering in the fifth inning against Minnesota reliever Cole Irvin. It was his sixth home run of the season. He also hit a sacrifice fly in Boston’s sixth inning.
Minnesota starting pitcher Xabby Matthews was taken out after giving up a double to Sedan Rafaela with two outs in the fifth inning, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead. Irvin (6-6) replaced Matthews and gave up a walk to Jalen Duran and then a three-run home run to Gonzalez. Matthews allowed one run on two hits in 4 2/3 innings, striking out six and allowing two walks.
Curt Crawford (9-15) limited the Twins to three runs on eight hits in 7 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and did not allow a base hit. It was his first win since Aug. 13.
Minnesota (81-75) now trails the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers by one game for the American League’s third wild-card spot.
The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning, when the Twins took a 2–0 lead on four consecutive two-out singles. Byron Buxton’s RBI single scored Kyle Farmer to lead off the scoring, and Trevor Larnach followed with a single to set up Christian Basque, Christian Vázquez made the score 2–0.
The Red Sox (78-78) extended their lead to 9-2 in the sixth inning after Gonzalez hit a home run. Nick Sogard then scored when Rafaela was hit by a Cole Sands pitch with the bases loaded. Duran hit a two-run double to increase the lead to 6-2. Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly to score Rafaela, then RBI singles from Masataka Yoshida and Connor Wong gave Boston a seven-run lead.
Minnesota completed the scoring in the eighth inning with Willi Castro’s bases-loaded walk, forcing Lanark to score.
The win was Boston’s third in six games against Minnesota this season. The Red Sox won the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, 8-1.
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