Red Sox Lose To Minnesota Twins 7-4
MINNEAPOLIS -- Max Kepler belted a three-run, walk-off home run in the 10th inning to lift the Minnesota Twins to a 7-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon at Target Field.
Kepler hit an 0-2 fastball from Red Sox right-hander Matt Barnes over the center-field fence for his first career home run with runners at second and third and one out.
Michael Tonkin (2-2) struck out two in one inning of scoreless relief to earn the win.
Barnes (2-3) was charged with the loss after allowing three runs on two hits and a walk in one-third of an inning.
Twins starter Pat Dean couldn't get the win in one of his better starts of the season. The rookie left-hander allowed one run on just three hits in 6 1/3 innings but walked four.
Red Sox starter Rick Porcello also didn't figure into the final decision; he permitted four runs -- one earned -- on five hits struck out five in seven innings.
Boston scored three runs on two hits and two errors to even the score at 4 in the eighth inning.
Twins right-hander Brandon Kintzler issued a walk to pinch hitter Marco Hernandez and gave up singles to Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia to load the bases with no outs for Xander Bogaerts. The American League's leading hitter hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Eduardo Nunez, who fielded it cleanly but threw it into center field, allowing two runs to score.
Left-hander Fernando Abad entered and got David Ortiz to ground into his second double play of the afternoon, but the tying run scored from third.
Minnesota scored single runs in each the first and second innings to take an early lead.
Eduardo Nunez singled to lead off the game, stole second, advanced to third on a fielder's choice and scored on an RBI ground out by Joe Mauer.
A one-out single in the second by Eduardo Escobar got the Twins started in the second. A grounder to short by Juan Centeno was not fielded cleanly by Bogaerts, allowing Escobar to scamper to third. Byron Buxton followed and beat out a double play grounder to Bogaerts at first, allowing Escobar to score for a two-run lead.
Dean cruised through four, allowing a walk and a pair of hits, one of them erased by a double play before Chris Young's solo blast in the fifth inning put the Red Sox on the board.
Boston wasted a leadoff walk by Betts in the sixth when Pedroia grounded into a 5-4-3 double play but coaxed a pair of free passes from Dean in the seventh to end the lefty's afternoon. Kevin Jepsen entered with two on and one out but got Young to pop out in foul territory and struck out pinch hitter Travis Shaw to end the threat.
The Twins took advantage of Bogaerts' second error of the day in the sixth. Robbie Grossman walked and Mauer singled to lead off the inning. A pair of fly outs advanced Grossman to third and he scored when first baseman Hanley Ramirez was unable to scoop Bogaerts' low throw on a ground ball that would have ended the inning.
Escobar followed with a bloop single into center to score Mauer and give the Twins a 4-1 lead.
