Twins 6, Red Sox 5: Three-Phase Clutchness Gives Twins First Sweep at Fenway Since 1994

[Hans Birkeland]

Image courtesy of © Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 5+ IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (82 Pitches, 59 Strikes, 71.9%)
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (0.32), Travis Adams (0.21), Yoendrys Gómez (0.16)
Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant):

Winners of five of their past six games and four of their past five series, the Twins are somehow a playoff team, were the season to end today. They have taken the first two games at Fenway Park and sought the sweep, with Bailey Ober taking the mound against working-class hero Sonny Gray.

The Twins made Gray work after he retired the first two batters. Trevor Larnach worked the count to 3-2 before getting hit on the foot by a curveball. Josh Bell then walked, before Kody Clemens roped a single into right field to put the Twins on the board first. That would be the end of the damage, but Gray was forced to throw 29 pitches.

Meanwhile, Ober looked better than his previous outing, in which he stayed poised but lacked command in his five innings against the Brewers last Sunday. His changeup looked sharp, and he breezed through the first inning.

He breezed through the second, as well, except for Masataka Yoshida golfing out a 1-2 change 393 feet to tie the game. There was a steady drizzle during the game, and Ober's command would wobble increasingly as the game progressed.

No matter, as the Twins began the third with four consecutive hits, jump-started by a Brooks Lee double. It could have really unraveled for Gray, but Victor Caratini grounded into a double play with no outs and the bases loaded. The play resulted in the Twins' third run, but took some wind out of their sails.

Maybe that affected Ober, who started leaking a little arm-side in the fourth. He allowed a ringing double from Wilyer Abreu off the green monster in left, a moonshot from Willson Contreras to tie the game, and then another double off the monster from Yoshida.

Ober rebounded to retire the next two hitters, but Marcelo Mayer smashed a hard ground ball down the line (just past the outstretched glove of Clemens at first), and the Red Sox took the lead.

The Twins would answer in the sixth. Ryan Kreidler singled with two outs and Orlando Arcia on first, prompting Boston to go to their relief ace, Garrett Whitlock. Austin Martin then laced a hanging slider into the left field corner, scoring Arcia. Lee flipped a single the opposite way, scoring Kreidler, with Martin scoring as well when catcher Carlos Narvaez dropped the relay throw. 6-4 Twins.

Anthony Banda and Eric Orze pitched effectively in getting the Twins through innings six and seven, allowing zero baserunners while throwing just 10 pitches each.

Arcia delivered his third hit of the game, a double, to lead off the eighth inning. The Twins would squander the opportunity, with Martin striking out with Arcia on third and one out and Lee flying out to end the frame.

Taylor Rogers was brought on for the eighth and was greeted with a perfect bunt single up the first base line from Jarren Duran. It was certainly hold-on-to-your-butts time, and even more so when Ceddanne Rafaela launched a line drive over a shallow Martin in right field. But Martin made an over-the-shoulder catch that evoked Willie Mays comparisons from the broadcast (not from me, Mays would have taken a much better route). Abreu then hit a ball off the green monster to put runners on second and third with one out. Rogers was done at that point (and good riddance), and new relief star Yoendrys Gomez was brought in to face the hot-hitting Contreras with the game on the line. He struck out Contreras on a nasty sweeper, and got Yoshida to pop out to right on the first pitch.

It wouldn't be pretty in the ninth, Nick Sogard led off with a triple to the gap in right center, and catcher Narváez walked. Gomez threw a great slider to strike out Mayer, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa launched a fly ball he thought was out of the park. It hit the monster, but pinch-runner Connor Wong wasn't running hard the entire way, and the relay throw from Kreidler nabbed Wong at home for the second out. It brought to mind this play at Fenway Park from 2019.

The job was not done. Gomez slipped on the mound and balked IKF to third. He then hit Duran with a pitch that, had he not hit him, would have been a wild pitch that scored the tying run. Gómez was lifted for Travis Adams, who got Rafaela to fly to Martin yet again to seal the win.

Stuff I'm Tracking:

-Today's lineup featured no Byron Buxton, no Luke Keaschall, no Ryan Jeffers, no Royce Lewis and no Matt Wallner. Ask a Twins fan circa March 2026 and ask how that would go. But today, it resulted in six runs on 12 hits. Some better situational hitting, and they could have scored several more.

-Anthony Banda has been a little better in May after looking rough in his first month with the Twins. He has six straight scoreless appearances, his walks are down, and his strikeouts are up. His settling into being a functional seventh-inning guy would do wonders for the state of this thin but currently overperforming bullpen.

-Caratini looks lost at the plate, taking strikes, swinging at balls, and only putting something in play when it's on the ground and could result in a double play (seemingly). And we have him for next year, too!

What’s Next: The Twins travel to Chicago to begin a four-game set against the White Sox as Zebby Matthews (1-1, 1.38 ERA) takes on lefty Anthony Kay (3-1, 4.27 ERA). The White Sox have been better this year, led by rookie Munetaka Murakami (17 HR, .922 OPS) and second year shortstop Colson Montgomery (13 HR, .797 OPS). Their pitching has held up, led by Davis Martin who has seven wins and a 2.04 ERA.

Postgame Interviews: Coming soon

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Gómez	36	0	13	0	22	71
Rojas	0	0	0	45	0	45
Morris	10	0	0	32	0	42
Adams	0	0	29	0	1	30
Banda	0	0	14	0	10	24
Orze	0	0	14	0	10	24
Rogers	0	0	0	6	13	19
Woods Richardson	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[jkcarew]

Exciting to see the club win some close games. The boys look like they’re having fun.

And Martin is just a baseball player. On a really good club he isn’t close to being the most talented player, at anything. Not baserunning, not hitting, not fielding. Probably not a starter, at least at any one position. But he’s gonna find a way to beat you if given some chances. Nick Punto with the benefit of more talent than Nick had.

[CharlieDee]

This series was fun to watch. Love the effort and hustle!  Win Twins!!

[mikelink45]

I am worried about Caratini - this is not the man I want replacing Jeffers.

I am also worried about Ober - his last two outings have not been great - I hope he regains his early season form. 

What fascinating me is that all of us - yes me - wanted all the prospects and it is the pickup team of Arcia, Gray and Kriedler that has been carrying the water for the team.  On the other hand I still am not pleased with Outman.  

Somehow Larnach has found his mojo.  Good for him. 

Fascinating year. 

[D.C Twins]

Addition by subtraction.

Removing Wallner and Lewis poor defense and prolific strikeouts makes a big difference!

[Parfigliano]

9 minutes ago, D.C Twins said:

Addition by subtraction.

Removing Wallner and Lewis poor defense and prolific strikeouts makes a big difference!

The team did go up when they went down.

[IndianaTwin]

"Anthony Banda has been a little better excellent in May after looking rough in his first month an eight-day stretch in April with the Twins...." 

 

I fixed this sentence. Banda gave up nine runs in an eight-day period in April. Aside from that, his ERA is 2.79. He didn't give up a run in five of his six outings before that three-game stretch and hasn't in 13 of the 16 games since. Since May 2, he's given up one run in 8.2 innings, with just three hits and three walks allowed.