The Red Sox held off the Minnesota Twins -- barely -- Tuesday, posting an 11-9 victory, their third straight, but only after the team nearly squandered what had been a 9-3 lead. The Boston bullpen allowed five runs over the final three innings.
Beleaguered closer Matt Barnes, who blew a two-run lead Monday, allowed a solo homer and two walks to the three batters he faced in the ninth, giving way to Hansel Robles, who promptly struck out two of the three hitters he faced to secure the save.
The Sox belted four homers along the way, two by Hunter Renfroe, who has six homers in his last nine games.
WHO: Red Sox (71-55) vs. Minnesota Twins (54-70)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: BOS 3-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Tanner Houck (0-3, 3.12) vs. RHP Griffin Jax (3-1, 5.11)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS:
TWINS
Kepler RF
Rooker LF
Polanco SS
Donaldson DH
Arraez 3B
Garver C
Gordon 2B
Sano 1B
Cave CF
RED SOX
Hernandez 2B
Schwarber LF
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Martinez DH
Verdugo CF
Renfroe RF
Shaw 1B
Vazquez C
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B7: Sawamura thought he had Nick Gordon struck out on a 3-and-2 pitch and began walking off the mound. Turns out it was a foul tip. Given new lifem Gordon then drilled a single up the middle and it's suddenly a one-run game.
T7: Travis Shaw has two homers in the last two games, but continues to be an adventure in the field. He tried to grab the slowest of rollers by Max Kepler and fumbled it for an error.
B5: It's open season on Griffin Jax -- a two-run double to CF by Verdugo, followed by Renfroe's second homer of the night, a two-run shot. It's 9-3 Sox.
B5: Second run-scoring double for Rafael Devers in as many days -- this one, yanked down the RF line and into the seats on a hop, scoring Kike Hernandez from second.
B4: Hunter Renfroe connects on a hanging slider and belts it into the Monster Seats for a three-run blast. That's three homers in the last four games and five in the last nine for Renfroe.
T4: Hard contact against Houck again this inning -- a booming double off the CF wall by Nick Gordon, followed by a rocket that exploded past Kike Hernandez at second for two runs.
B3: Travis Shaw golfs a curveball at the bottom of the zone into the visitor's bullpen, a few feet shy of where his walkoff grand slam landed Monday. This one only counts for one, but it ties the game 1-1.
T3: Josh Donaldson bangs a ball high off the CF wall, but is easily thrown out trying to stretch at second with an on-target throw from Alex Verdugo. That's seven assists for Verdugo this season and 35 overall for the Boston OF.
T2: The Twins are making Houck work, with a lot of pitches thrown in the first two innings. He's at 47 through two.
T1: Leadoff triple to the triangle by Max Kepler, followed by a one-out single poked into RF by Jorge Polanco, gives the Twins a 1-0 lead three batters in against Tanner Houck.
WHAT's UP: The Red Sox are 6-5 in their last 11 games, after going 2-10 in their previous 12...They are 16-19 since the All-Star break and 71-55 overall....Travis Shaw was the first Red Sox player to hit a walk-off grand slam since Xander Bogaerts (7/14/18 vs. TOR) and the first to do so in the 11th inning or later since Dick Stuart (4/28/64 vs. BAL, 11th inn.). The Sox are 8-3 in extra-inning games, MLB’s 3rd-best record behind PIT (5-1) and SEA (12-4...Yesterday, Alex Verdugo’s 2-run HR, Hunter Renfroe’s solo HR, and Rafael Devers’ 10th-inning RBI double all came with 2 outs...This season, the Red Sox lead the AL in runs scored with 2 outs (263, 2nd-most in MLB). Devers’ 10th-inning double and Travis Shaw’s 11th-inning grand slam came with 2 strikes...With 2 strikes this season, the Sox lead MLB in RBI (250) & XBH (152). With RISP & 2 outs this season, the Sox lead the majors in AVG (.268) and lead the AL in OPS (.837...In their last 15 games (beginning 8/7), Red Sox starters have a 3.11 ERA (26 ER/75.1 IP)...That is the Sox’ lowest starter ERA over any 15-game span this season...In that time, starters have struck out 85 batters and walked 17. In that 15-game stretch, Nathan Eovaldi (3 GS) and Chris Sale (2 GS) have combined to post a 1.55 ERA with 36 SO and 3 BB (5 ER/29.0 IP...Among the 169 pitchers with at least 60.0 IP this season, Garrett Whitlock ranks 1st in the AL and 2nd in MLB with a 1.64 ERA (deGrom-1.08). Whitlock has made 21 scoreless appearances of more than 1.0 IP, most in MLB.. The Red Sox’ 160 HR this season have averaged a projected distance of 405 feet, the 2nd-longest average in the AL behind only the Twins (406 feet). Hunter Renfroe, who leads the majors with 8 HR in August, has averaged 418 feet per homer this season, the longest average in the AL (min. 10 HR). The Sox have hit 29 HR with either 2 runners on base (26) or with the bases loaded (3), most in the AL and tied for most in the majors (also SF and MIA). The Red Sox lead the majors in doubles (261) and XBH (438) and rank 6th in runs per game (4.97), 3rd in AVG (.258) and SLG (.441), and 4th in OPS (.765). The Red Sox own MLB’s best records when scoring 4+ runs (.851, 63-11) and 5+ runs (tied, .900, 54-6). The Sox have scored 10+ runs in a game 15 times (3rd-most in MLB) and 15+ runs 3 times (most in AL...Since 6/27, Kiké Hernández leads the AL in OBP (.407) and ranks T-2nd in walks (33)...In 48 games during that time, he has a .944 OPS while leading the Red Sox in hits (51), runs (31), XBH (24, tied), and total bases (95)....Kyle Schwarber has a .538 OBP in 7 games with the Red Sox (7-for-19, 7 BB, 6 SO, 3 2B). During his current career-long 20-game on-base streak, which began 6/19, Schwarber has hit .368 with a 1.431 OPS (25-for-68, 13 BB, 16 XBH)....Rafael Devers recorded his 250th career XBH yesterday...He became the 41st player since 1900 with 250+ XBH before turning 25 years old (the only other Red Sox to do that are Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr). Devers leads MLB with 181 XBH since the start of 2019. Devers has 29 HR and ranks tied for 2nd in MLB in RBI (90)...With 1 more HR, he would join Williams as the only Red Sox to record multiple 30-HR seasons before turning 25 (Devers hit 32 HR in 2019). NO DAYS OFF: Yesterday began a stretch in which the Red Sox will play a game on 17 consecutive days (8/23-9/8). The Sox have 36 games left in the regular season...14 of those are vs. teams with a losing record (BAL-6, MIN3, WSH-3, NYM-2) and 22 are vs. teams with at least a .500 record (TB-7, CLE-6, NYY-3, CWS-3, SEA-3). .....The Red Sox are 11-8 in their last 19 home games, after going 9-0 in their previous 9...Overall, their .609 win % at home ranks T-3rd in the AL (T-8th in MLB....The Red Sox have begun 7 consecutive days in 3rd place in the AL East, after starting every day from 4/8-8/17 in either 1st or 2nd place.....Tanner Houck has allowed 1 or 0 R in 4 of his last 6 outings, posting a 2.59 ERA, 12.58 SO/9.0 IP, .209 opponent AVG, and 1.03 WHIP in the span (24.1 IP, 19 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 6 BB, 34 SO). 2021 .....Among Red Sox starters, Houck ranks 1st in SO/BB (6.57), SO/9.0 IP (11.94), SO% (31.9), WHIP (1.15), and FIP (1.96). Has issued 1 or 0 walks in 7 of his 9 ML outings this year...Houck has struck out 32.4% of his career batters faced (67 of 207), the 2nd-highest mark of any Red Sox pitcher over the last 2 seasons (min. 50.0 IP; Barnes, 37.2%). As a starter, has struck out 32.3% of his batters faced (62 of 192), the highest mark all-time by a Red Sox pitcher through 10 career starts. His 67 SO are tied for the 3rd-most by a Red Sox pitcher through their first 12 career games, behind Daisuke Matsuzaka (76 in 2007) and Lynn McGlothen (74, 1972).
NOTES:
* Before the game, the Red Sox optioned OF Jarren Duran to Worcester to make room for the addition of starter Tanner Houck. "There were a lot of lefties that we faced there for a long stretch'' said Alex Cora. "We were going to protect him against most of them, so it was very hard for him. But, at the same time, it was a good learning experience just to be around him and for him to be around us. He's not the first promising rookie to be sent down. He's not the first promising rookie to get sent down in this organization. We'll be patient. There's a few things that he's got to work on -- defensively, running the bases, bunting a little bit more. We gave him the homework and he will work on it and we'll see where it takes us.''
* Cora seemed non-committal when asked if Matt Barnes would serve as the team's closer. "He's still going to get big outs for us late in games,'' said Cora. Barnes gave up a two-run lead in the ninth Monday and has had three losses and two blown saved this month.