All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 6-2 win over the Twins, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
ERod delivers again: Almost from the first few weeks of the season, Eduardo Rodriguez has been the most dependable starter in the Red Sox rotation. Following a stretch of games in which the Sox failed to get any length from their starters, Rodriguez turned in seven dominant shutout innings, allowing just five hits -- all singles -- while striking out eight. "He's been solid for a while,'' said Alex Cora. "He's been great this year. We knew stuff-wise, he was up there with the other guys.'' Cora recalled showing Rodriguez some tough love in spring training to push him into becoming a more accomplished pitcher and part of that was trying to develop a mindset where he wasn't satisfied with giving the team just five innings. Part of that transformation was being more aggressive within the strike zone and trusting his stuff. He leads the Sox with 17 wins and lowered his ERA to 3.81
Betts swings early and connects: It would be difficult to be more efficient with the bat than Mookie Betts was Wednesday night. In the first inning he swung at the first pitch he saw from Twins starter Jose Berrios and homered into the Monster Seats. An inning later, with two runners on, he swung at the first pitch of the at-bat again, and drove the ball over the Monster Seats. Two pitches, two swings, two homers and four RBI, making Betts the first hitter to homer on the first two pitches he saw in a game since Jimmy Rollins did so with the Phillies against the Pirates on Aug. 25, 2009. "He's a good pitcher,'' said Betts of Berrios. "You start falling behind him and he'll put you away quick so I figured I needed to be a little more aggressive.'' And still Betts wasn't done, later delivering a run-scoring single and finishing with four hits and five RBI. Betts now has 25 homers this season.
Markus Lynn Betts. pic.twitter.com/zFNTvIpqGN
— Red Sox (@RedSox) September 5, 2019