The Minnesota Twins started a 7-game homestand with a 3-game series against the Boston Red Sox while also trying to extend their winning streak to 11. They’ve won 10 in a row against two teams with losing records. Boston was 18-14 entering the first game of this series and they were sending RHP Tanner Houck to the mound for this game. He was 3-2 with a 1.60 ERA & a 0.921 WHIP including a complete game shutout against the Cleveland Guardians so the Twins had their work cut out for them in the first game.
2024 Minnesota Twins Schedule
17-13
MLB Standings
3rd Place in AL Central
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2024 Boston Red Sox Schedule
18-14
MLB Standings
3rd Place in AL East
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Twinsactions
The Minnesota Twins were busy with moves since their last game:
May 1st:
Selected the contract of RHP Caleb Boushley & optioned LHP Kody Funderburk to Triple-A St. Paul
May 2nd:
RHP Matt Bowman* was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for cash considerations; optioned RHP Caleb Boushley
*Bowman was Designated For Assignment (DFA’d) on April 30th when the Twins activated RHP Jhoan Duran.
Matt Bowman showed well in his cup of coffee with the Minnesota Twins. In 6 games, he had a 2.89 ERA and a 0.857 WHIP. In the April 26th game at the Los Angeles Angels, he came in to relieve RHP Bailey Ober in a 4-1 game with 1 out in the 8th & a runner on 2nd and he had to face Mike Trout. He walked him on 4 pitches but it was one of those non-intentional intentional walks meaning he was told not to give him anything to hit. He then allowed an RBI-1B to Nolan Schanuel but struck both Taylor Ward and former Twin Ehire Adrianza looking to end the 8th inning. He has good stuff and it’s a shame the way baseball works for players on the edge of the 40-man roster. Is there a better way? He pitched well but ended up being squeezed out because of how it works. Then he had to move to Arizona & start over with a new team. He’s 32 years old and he makes $925K. A lot of us can easily say we’d play baseball for that much money but these players go through a lot and it makes you wonder how quickly we’d go back to our daily jobs after going through what they go through to keep pursuing their dreams.
May 3rd:
Placed CF Byron Buxton on the 10-Day Injured List (IL) (Right Knee Inflammation); recalled UTIL Austin Martin from Triple-A St. Paul
Placed RHP Brock Stewart on the 15-Day IL (Right Shoulder Tendonitis); Recalled RHP Jorge Alcala & LHP Kody Funderburk from Triple-A St. Paul
Signed RHP Adam Plutko to a minor league contract.
Here’s how both teams lined up:
Minnesota Twins Lineup:
Boston Red Sox Lineup:
Game Recap
The pitching matchup:
Boston Red Sox
RHP Tanner Houck
(3-2, 1.60 ERA, 0.921 WHIP*)
vs
Minnesota Twins
RHP Chris Paddack
(2-1, 5.88 ERA, 1.692 WHIP*)
*ERA=Earned Run Average; WHIP=Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched
This game started with a pretty routine groundball to short off the bat of Boston Red Sox CF Jarren Duran. At short for the Minnesota Twins was former Gold & Platinum Golve winner SS Carlos Correa but the ball took a weird bounce and hit the palm of his glove & bounced away from him for his 2nd error of the season. 2 pitches later, Duran was on 3rd after 3B Rafael Devers hit a double to the right center field wall so 2 on (2nd & 3rd) & no outs for Twins RHP Chris Paddack. That’s a rough start to a game but he struck out LF Tyler O’Neill swinging for the 1st out, got RF Wilyer Abreu to pop out to short then got 1B Garrett Cooper to ground out to 2nd to end the inning with the game still scoreless. That’s some great work.
In the bottom of the 1st, LF Alex Kirilloff led off by striking out swinging 2B Edouard Julien walked. C Ryan Jeffers struck out looking and RF Max Kepler grounded out to short to end the 1st inning.
In the 2nd, Paddack set ‘em down 1-2-3 on 3 groundouts to 2nd but the Twins were also set down 1-2-3 on a line out, a ground out and another line out.
In the top of the 3rd, Red Sox SS Ceddanne Rafaela singled to lead off the inning but he was promptly thrown out trying to steal 2nd with a great tag by Twins SS Carlos Correa. Duran grounded out to 1st & Devers struck out swinging.
Minnesota Twins CF Willi Castro doubled (9) down the left field line then advanced to 3rd on a 1-out ground out to 2nd and later scored on an Edouard Julien seeing-eye RBI-single:
Ryan Jeffers flew out to left field to end the inning.
Boston Red Sox 0 | 1 Minnesota Twins
End of the 3rd
After allowing the double in the 1st inning, Minnesota Twins RHP Chris Paddack allowed just a single and a walk through the next 5 innings while also striking out 5. He was replaced by RHP to begin the 7th inning and struck out the side with just 11 pitches:
The Twins started the bottom of the 7th with back-to-back singles from Trevor Larnach & Carlos Santana. Austin Martin pinch-ran for Trevor Larnach then Willi Castro laid down a sacrifice bunt…
Boston C Reese Maguire tried to get Carlos Santana at 2nd but threw the ball wide which allowed Austin Martin to score from 2nd base. Boston made a pitching change to RHP Naoyuki Uwasawa and he walked Jose Miranda to load the bases but got Alex Kirilloff to ground into a fielder’s choice and 2B Vaughn Grisson threw home to keep the score at 2-0. Edouard Julien then walked to score Willi Castro and Ryan Jeffers came up to the plate…
A sharp line drive to left center field scored Miranda & Kirilloff and just like that, it was a 5-run lead for the Twins. Kepler popped out & Correa struck out looking to end the 7th.
Boston Red Sox 0 | 5 Minnesota Twins
End of the 7th
OF Manuel Margot replaced Alex Kirilloff in left field, batting 1st, and Austin Martin stayed in the game as the designated hitter. RHP Cole Sands replaced Griffin Jax to pitch the 8th. He got a line out then hit Reese Maguire with a pitch but struck out Ceddanne Rafaela for the 2nd out. Jarren Duran singled to center field so Twins manager Rocco Baldelli made a pitching change to LHP Caleb Thielbar to face left-handed hitter Rafael Devers and he hit a high outside fastball off the center field wall to score 2 runs.
Thielbar struck out Tyler O’Neill swinging to end the top of the 8th.
Boston Red Sox 2 | 5 Minnesota Twins
Middle of the 8th
The Twins got a 2-out single off the bat of Max Kepler in the bottom of the 8th but Miranda popped up to the pitcher to send us to the 9th inning and Twins closer RHP Jhoan Duran came into the ballgame looking for his 2nd save of the season…
2 swinging strikeouts on high heat with a groundout to 3rd in between for 11 straight wins for the Minnesota Twins.
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Final Score
Boston Red Sox 2 | 5 Minnesota Twins
W-Chris Paddack (3-1) L-Tanner Houck (3-3)
S-Jhoan Duran (2)
Pitching
Starters
MN:
BOS:
RHP Tanner Houck:
6IP 6H 4R 3ER 2BB 5K – 3rd Loss
Bullpen
MN:
RHP Griffin Jax:
1IP 0H 0R/0ER 0BB 3K – Hold (5)
RHP Cole Sands
0.2IP 1H 2R/2ER 0BB 1K
LHP Caleb Thielbar
0.11IP 1H 0R/0ER 0BB 1K
RHP Jhoan Duran
1IP 0H 0R/0ER 0BB 2K – Save (2)
BOS:
RHP Naoyuki Uwasawa:
2IP 2H 1R/1ER 2BB 2K
Hitting
Home Runs
None
Doubles
MN:
Willi Castro (9), Ryan Jeffers (9)
BOS:
Rafael Devers 2 (6,7)
2-Out RBI
MN:
Edouard Julien
BOS:
Rafael Devers 2
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Next Up
Game 2 on Saturday at 1:10 pm on Bally Sports North
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