After losing three in a row, the Red Sox put up nine runs on 11 hits, including homers by Ceddanne Rafaela and Rafael Devers, to avoid being swept by the Minnesota Twins and ending their 12-game win streak.
The last time the Red Sox faced Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan in Minnesota, he tossed a complete-game shutout.
As such, the laws of cosmic balance in the universe dictated a much-needed big day for the Boston bats. After a three-game losing streak in which they scored no more than two runs in any contest and a six-game stretch without a home run, the Red Sox erupted for nine runs on 11 hits. The 9-2 victory was their 20th win of the season, and snapped the Twins’ win streak at 12 games, their longest since 1980.
“I’m very happy for this one,” a thrilled Alex Cora said postgame. “We did a good job, man. This one, that was a cool win, let’s put it that way.”
Ryan was perfect through the first three innings in Sunday’s series finale.
And then, he wasn’t. Trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Jarren Duran got the hit parade started with a leadoff double and advanced to third on Rafael Devers’ first-pitch groundout. Rob Refsnyder brought an end to 11 consecutive scoreless innings with a line drive, which deflected off Carlos Correa’s glove and into the left-field corner. Duran scored the tying run easily, and Refsnyder slid into second with a double.
(Refsnyder exited the game after the fifth with hamstring tightness, but both he and Alex Cora described the situation as “precautionary.”)
In the following frame, Reese McGuire singled and advanced to second on an error by the third baseman. He was caught stealing third, but the Red Sox successfully challenged, so when Ceddanne Rafaela stepped up to the plate and hit the team’s first home run since their 17-0 victory on April 27, they took a 3-1 lead.
“Reese, he almost gave me a heart attack when he took it to third, but he was safe. I don’t know how,” Cora said.
Ryan’s start lasted six innings. He exited charged with three runs on six hits, one walk, and five strikeouts, but his replacement, Kody Funderburk, would fare worse. After getting the Red Sox to strand McGuire, who’d singled again in the top of the seventh, Funderburk faced eight Boston batters in the eighth. The Twins reliever got Duran to ground out sharply, then gave up a single to Devers, a pinch-hit double to Tyler O’Neill to put both men in scoring position, and walked Wilyer Abreu to load the bases.
