Miguel Sano knocked in the victor with a single in the sixth.
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At one point, Clay Buchholz was going to be the next great starter for the Boston Red Sox.
Mookie Betts homered on the first pitch Boston faced, David Ortiz added a late two-run homer and the Red Sox continued to surge through July with a 13-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night.
I make the distinction because the first at bat of the bottom of the first saw Mookie Betts lead off his second straight game with a home run. The Twins surprised the Red Sox 2-1 Friday proving that good pitching beats good hitting. “Whenever that happens, that’s always going to help you go on a run”. “Early on, first pitch of the game – home run”. Michael Martinez and Dustin Pedroia started the inning with consecutive singles and Bogaerts walked to load the bases with nobody out and Ortiz coming up next.
Hanley Ramirez lined out to right to end the game and Boston’s three-game winning streak. Look for Boston to continue its hot hitting on Gibson, who has an ERA over 5.
Steven Wright tossed eight innings of two-run ball and the Boston Red Sox offense took it from there en route to a 13-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night at Fenway Park. “Unfortunately the walk and then the double is the difference”. Dozier started the 4-2-3 double play, keeping the run out, and leaving the Sox down to one last out. The infield was in for the Twins, and “Big Papi” hit a groundball right to Dozier, who would start a 4-2-3 double play to maintain the 2-1 lead.
So, while Ortiz said of his exceedingly rare failure to deliver in the ninth inning, “I let it go”, it was impossible for him to deny what a more reliable Rodriguez could mean for the Red Sox during the season’s final two months.
“If it’s deemed necessary, sure”, Farrell said.
“I’m more than happy to have Brock in left field”, said Farrell. Gibson allowed four runs and 10 hits in six innings last week against Cleveland.
But since returning from a stint in Pawtucket, Rodriguez has flashed the slider that made him so effective as a rookie last season. “I think he pitched good”, Ortiz said. “If the game would have been that easy, it wouldn’t be the way it is”. They know how to get that done. The lefty showed solid command of his slider and did well to work out of jams after giving up base hits, but his pitch count quickly got too high.
Twins: OF Bryon Buxton was not in the starting lineup for the Twins as Molitor rested him against Wright’s knuckleball. The temperature at gametime was 92 degrees.
“I definitely wanted to go back out, but I respect that guy a lot”, Gibson said of his manager.
It now seems even more clear that the Red Sox would like a Benintendi-Bradley-Betts outfield for the future and that future could be as soon as this year.
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Junichi Tazawa entered to pitch the eighth inning after being activated from the DL today. Ricky Nolasco (4-8) starts for the Twins in tonight’s 6:10 p-m game. Tyler Duffey gave up nine hits and six runs in less than three innings to take the loss for Minnesota.
