Red Sox 8, Twins 1: Not How They Drew It Up

Yesterday at 03:40 PM

Building momentum off a big win with their Ace on the bump? Not the 2024 Twins.

Game Summary:

The Twins missed a bases-loaded opportunity in the first inning, then were crushed by three Triston Casas homers. Flush this one away and get ready for Game 2.

Red Sox 8, Twins 1

After Friday night's hard-fought, extra-inning victory in rainy Boston, the Twins were set up to build some momentum today behind Pablo López.

Byron Buxton led off the game with a single. Carlos Correa walked with one out, and Royce Lewis drew a two-out walk to create a bases-loaded threat. Willi Castro couldn't capitalize and the Twins came away empty-handed.

Boston jumped on their opportunity in the bottom half, with two one-out singles. López fanned Trevor Story to stem the threat temporarily, but Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas jumped on a first-pitch fastball and drove it over the right-center field bullpens for a three-run homer. Red Sox 3, Twins 0

Both teams got a man aboard in the 2nd frame, but neither did anything with it. The Twins did that again in the third with a Matt Wallner walk but did not push him across.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Masataka Yoshida and Trevor Story singled for the Sox with one out, setting the stage for Casas once again. He drove another López fastball, this one up and away, over the Green Monster in left field for an opposite-field, three-run homer. Red Sox 6, Twins 0

The Twins scratched across a run in the top of the 4th thanks to a two-out error. Boston answered that with a single run of their own in the bottom half, with a couple of singles and a wild pitch. Red Sox 7, Twins 1

López's disappointing day would end there, with 4 innings, 9 hits, and 7 earned runs allowed on 86 pitches. He struck out 3 and walked 1.

Wallner singled with two outs in the fifth, but was stranded. Left-hander Brent Headrick, who was added to the Twins' roster during yesterday's off day, took over in the fifth with the unenviable task of eating as much of the rest of the game as he could.

Headrick, if you haven't been following, had been out since early April with a forearm strain. He recently returned to action with four outings with the Saints, covering 9 ⅓ innings. Ronny Henriquez was optioned out to make room on the roster.

The first batter Headrick faced in his return to the Majors was Casas, who promptly belted his third homer of the day (again off a fastball). Red Sox 8, Twins 1

There's not much else to cover about the rest of this one. The Twins sent the minimum number of batters to the plate in 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. Buxton and Correa were lifted in the 6th, presumably so they'll also be available for the nightcap.

Headrick did good work in relief, striking out 5 over 3 innings, allowing just the Casas homer to touch home plate. Scott Blewett worked a scoreless 8th, dropping his ERA to 1.08 in his low-leverage opportunities.

If you're wondering about the Twins' strategy of repeatedly trying to attack Casas with fastballs, there are a couple of points worth mentioning.

First, López's four-seamer has been one of the best pitches in baseball this season, especially during his second-half stretch of great work. Its cumulative +20 pitcher run value is the 2nd-best for a four-seamer (and 4th-best of any pitch type) this season. Second, since Casas returned to Boston's lineup last month after missing most of the summer with torn cartilage in his left rib cage, he's hit just .212/.293/.269 with 1 extra-base hit and a 32.3% whiff rate against fastballs. Combine those two points and it's a fairly straightforward approach. But, it didn't work today.

Studs:

• Triston Casas, if that's allowed

Duds:

• Pablo López
• Minnesota's collective offense (4-31, 4 walks, no extra-base hits)

Next:

• Game 2 of the split doubleheader with Boston. Zebby Matthews will start opposite Kutter Crawford. The first pitch is scheduled for 4:35p CT.