September 21 – Trevor Lanak and Matt Wollner each drove in three runs on RBI singles in the top of the 12th inning to help the Minnesota Twins take the first Game 1 of a three-game series with a 4–2 win over the host Boston Red Sox Friday.
The Twins remained one game ahead of the Detroit Tigers for the final wild-card spot in the American League. Detroit lost 7-1 to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.
The top five hitters in Minnesota’s (81-73) lineup collected multiple hits, including leadoff hitters Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis, both of whom got doubles.
Kyle Farmer stole second and Buxton and Larnach singled to lead off. After a walk by Carlos Correa, Woerner added an insurance run with a hit to right base.
Willi Castro hit a sacrifice fly to right two batters later, and Griffin Jax allowed only one home run to Connor Wong in the half inning) had an RBI grounder (76-78) to Chris Blewitt to preserve the win (1-0).
While first baseman Tristan Casas caught Trevor Larnach’s infielder Josh Winckowski’s single to help pitch a scoreless 10th inning, Winckowski missed multiple chances to score a walk-off hit, going 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position to end the game.
Louis Vreeland dismissed Wilier Abreu in the ninth and Seiden Rafaela in the 10th, both of whom scored two points.
Blewitt struck out Tyler O’Neill and Tristan Casas in consecutive games in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Wong and Trevor Story each had two hits and an RBI for Boston. As a result, the team suffered four consecutive losses in five games.
Red Sox starting pitcher Richard Fitz became just the second pitcher in Major League Baseball history to pitch at least five innings without allowing a run in his first three career starts. He struck out.
A two-out hit in the fourth gave the home team a chance to draw first blood. Tyler O’Neill drew a leadoff walk and after a two-run double by Villar Abreu moved into scoring position, Story hit an RBI single to center for the first run.
Fitz continued the scoreless run by singled in the fifth inning off Carlos Santana, and Luis Guerrero struck out zero with runners on the corners and one out in the sixth.
The Twins tied the game in the seventh. Correa grounded out for a potential top-inning double but was unable to convert it, allowing Byron Buxton to score a run with one out.
After Boston took the lead on Rafaela’s leadoff double in the seventh inning, Twins relievers Cole Sanders and John Duran gave the Red Sox five consecutive strikeouts, and then the Red Sox took the lead with two bases loaded, including a Yellow hit and a Story double.
Minnesota freshman David Festa struck out six batters while allowing four hits and one earned run in five innings.
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