Red Sox 2, Twins 0: Offense spoils Berrios’ excellent outing

The Red Sox struck first on Monday night, as J.D. Martinez reached out to poke a single on a pretty good Jose Berrios curveball to score Mookie Betts. The Twins were able to hold Boston to just one run in the first inning, as Marwin Gonzalez gunned Andrew Bennetendi out at second after he ripped a hit off of the right field fence.

Nelson Cruz would crank a double to the gap in the bottom of the first, but hometown nine would not muster another hit until an infield single by C.J. Cron in the fifth inning. In fact, they made Rick Porcello look like he was still pitching in his Cy Young days, as opposed to the pitcher who came into the game with a 4.69 ERA. Porcello ended up going 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and walk while striking out eight.

The Twins started to brew up something more in the later innings though, as they had baserunners on in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, with their best chance to score against Porcello come in the latter of the three innings. After Cron smashed a double off of the fence in right-center with one out (which looked like it might be a home run off the bat), Marwin Gonzalez and Jason Castro both flew out, sandwiched by a Miguel Sano walk.

The Twins had another great chance to score in the eighth, but the lack of clutch hitting struck once again. After a Jonathon Schoop single and Max Kepler walk to start the inning, Jorge Polanco laid down a bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Cruz came up and fouled off two pitches (both right down the middle) before a weak tapper back to the mound resulted in Schoop getting caught in a rundown between third and home. Eddie Rosario grounded out to end the inning and keep the deficit at one.

Jose Berrios further cemented his status today as the Twins ace with an excellent outing. La Makina retired 19 straight BoSox at one point of the game, and certainly didn’t deserve to lose this contest. Hurling 109 pitching over eight frames, Berrios struck out 10 Red Sox and allowed just five hits in the contest. All three of his offerings looked sharp tonight, with his fastball hitting 95 MPH even after he was above triple digits in pitch count.

Blake Parker continued his combustion by giving up another run to allow the Red Sox to stretch the lead to 2-0 in the ninth inning. It wouldn’t matter in the end, as the Twins went 1-2-3 in the ninth.

STUDS

Jose Berrios: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 BB, 1 ER, 10 K

C.J. Cron: 2-4

DUDS

Eddie Rosario: 0-4

Marwin Gonzalez: 0-4, 2 K’s

Jason Castro: 0-3, 2 K’s

Twins clutch hitting: 0-5 with RISP

Blake Parker: 9 ER’s in past 6 IP

ROBOT ROLL CALL: