Red Sox 8, Twins 1: Triston Casas is a Tigers Fan (Probably)

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Pablo Lopez: 4 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 1 BB 3 K (86 Pitches, 56 Strikes, 65.1%)
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Lopez (-.315), Willi Castro (-.060), Trevor Larnach (-.056)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

Following a merciful rainout of Saturday's game, there was a lot on the line in game one of a doubleheader against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Pablo López, who carried a 1.12 ERA over the past month (almost exactly coinciding with the team's freefall), faced a Boston lineup now lacking its $300-million superstar, Rafael Devers, who finally called it quits on the season after playing through injuries in both of his shoulders for the past few months.

The Twins got right to work against Red Sox starter, Nick Pivetta, who is as likely to strike out 10 as he is to serve up five home runs in a start. Byron Buxton led off by flipping a single to right field. Trevor Larnach advanced him to second with a hard smash that was expertly gloved by Boston's first baseman, Triston Casas. Carlos Correa walked, and Buxton advanced to third on a curious interference play. Pivetta tried to pick Buxton off of second base, and in catching the ball, shortstop Trevor Story put his knee down to block Buxton's access to the base. The umpiring crew conferred and granted Buxton third base, much to Boston manager Alex Cora's chagrin. Cora made a whole production out of his displeasure and was ejected from the game pretty quickly.

That may have given Pivetta the breather he needed, as he struck out Matt Wallner, walked Royce Lewis and induced a popout from Willi Castro to end the threat.

That momentum swing was compounded when, after an impressive strikeout of Jarren Duran, López induced a weak dribbler from Romy Gonzalez, which hit first base and popped into Carlos Santana's chest for a gifted single. Looking for a ground-ball double play, Lopez got the grounder off the bat of the slow-footed Masataka Yoshida, but it scooted past the shifted Lewis for another single. Story struck out on a high fastball, but Casas was waiting for a fastball and got one down in the zone that he crushed for a three-run home run.

After an uneventful second inning, López got Gonzalez to ground out to start the third.  Yoshida and Story both singled on elevated offspeed pitches, which brought up Casas once again. This time, López started him with a changeup, naturally, but with the count 2-2, he tried to sneak a fastball by him up and away. Casas lifted it the other way, over the Green Monster for another three-run bomb. Red Sox 6, Twins 0.

López's velocity had been trending up recently, with some of his fastest career pitches coming in the past month. Today, he threw quite a few 93-MPH fastballs and topped out at 95 MPH.

 The Twins scratched across a run in the fourth, with a Castro infield single, groundout, sacrifice fly and error. Buxton ended the inning with a line shot toward the Pesky Pole, which right fielder Wilyer Abreau made a tremendous catch on as he ran into the wall.

What looked like maybe a 6-3 game with Buxton's ball in the air quickly became 7-1. Duran singled and stole second, and Gonzalez hit a five-hopper up the middle to score the speedy leadoff man.

López was done after four, and newly recalled Brent Headrick got to make his season debut against... Triston Casas. Headrick's second pitch of his year was a fastball at the top of the zone that Casas pummeled 423 feet, past the triangle in center field for his third home run in five innings. Casas, who tore his rib cage cartilage in April and missed four months, is a big reason why the Red Sox feel confident about their future (in addition to three top-25 global prospects in the high minors). He posted an .856 OPS his rookie year in 2023 and added about 80 points to his 2024 OPS just today.

The Twins had traffic in each of their five innings against Pivetta, but went down 1-2-3 against fungible reliever Luis Garcia in the sixth, which prompted Rocco Baldelli to throw in the towel and remove Correa and Buxton from the game.

They made nary a whimper the rest of the game as the Boston bullpen, almost 100% responsible for their fall from contention as a team, cruised to victory.

Trends:

What’s Next: Zebby Matthews (1-3, 6.30 ERA) goes against Kutter Crawford (8-15, 4.19 ERA) as the Twins try to salvage a split of the double header. Crawford is a good pitcher despite the inflated surface numbers, as opposing hitters have hit a combined .220 over the past two seasons. He does like to give up home runs, however, allowing a league-leading 33 of them this year in 171 innings pitched. And yes, he does throw a cutter.

Postgame Interviews:

(Coming soon)

Bullpen Usage Chart: