Rafael Devers’ timely hit helps Red Sox break out late vs. Twins

Rafael Devers hit a key two-run single in the seventh inning as the Boston Red Sox rallied for five late runs to beat the visiting Minnesota Twins 6-1 in the opener of a three-game series Friday night.

Boston’s Alex Bregman (2-for-4) and Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers hit solo homers in the early innings and the game remained a 1-1 stalemate until Devers (3-for-5) knocked the deciding hit past the dive of Twins second baseman Edouard Julien in the hole.

Also for the Red Sox, David Hamilton went 3-for-4, driving in a run and scoring two more after his final two at-bats.

Justin Wilson (1-0) earned the win in relief of starter Brayan Bello, who struck out five and allowed one run and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. Greg Weissert and Liam Hendriks preserved the score with scoreless innings thereafter.

Boston first baseman Triston Casas was stretchered off the field with an apparent serious leg injury after an awkward landing on the first base bag in the second inning. Red Sox manager Alex Cora said afterward that Cases sustained a “significant knee injury” and was at the hospital.

With Louie Varland (1-3) relieving Minnesota starter Joe Ryan following six innings of four-hit ball with one run allowed and eight strikeouts, Connor Wong and Hamilton knocked back-to-back singles to start Boston’s seventh. After Ceddanne Rafaela’s sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, Devers delivered the key hit.

Boston added on with three runs on five hits in the eighth. Trevor Story snuck a leadoff single up the middle and stole second before scoring on Romy Gonzalez’s double off the right-field wall.

Gonzalez followed with a theft of third and scored on Hamilton’s Green Monster-banging double. Jarren Duran knocked another RBI hit through the right side two batters later.

Bregman staked the Red Sox to a 1-0 lead when he socked a two-out homer out to center in the first, but the game quickly settled into a pitching duel from there, as Ryan did not allow another hit until the fifth.

Minnesota’s lone breakthrough against Bello was a Jeffers line-drive homer to lead off the third. The Boston righty induced a double play off the bat of Brooks Lee to erase a Byron Buxton single in the first and — similarly to his counterpart — allowed just one other hit besides the homer before the sixth.

The pitching duel continued well into the middle innings, with Boston squandering a two-on chance in the sixth. Devers hit a leadoff single before reaching third on Story’s two-out knock, but Ryan struck out Gonzalez to end the threat.

–Field Level Media