Trevor Story, Connelly Early lead Red Sox past Twins 9-5; Garrett Crochet and key series takeaways

The Red Sox salvaged their second road trip of the season with a commanding 9-5 win over the Twins on Wednesday afternoon at Target Field.

Boston also picked up its first win of the year when trailing, improving to 1-7 in games in which the opponent scores first. As has been the case all season, the offense remains a rollercoaster, leaving fans unsure what they’ll get on any given day.

Alex Cora rolled out yet another new lineup, resting slugger Willson Contreras due to low back tightness that surfaced Tuesday night. Caleb Durbin and Wilyer Abreu were also given scheduled days off, leading to Ceddanne Rafaela hitting second, Andruw Monasterio starting at first base, and Roman Anthony in right field.

The reshuffled lineup delivered, as the Red Sox scored nine runs with Trevor Story continuing to look like a force at the plate.

Beyond the offensive production, Connelly Early was outstanding. The young left-hander provided a much-needed bounce-back performance after Garrett Crochet and Sonny Gray struggled in the first two games of the series.

After allowing a solo homer to Austin Martin in the first inning, the left-hander settled in and delivered his best start of the season. Early allowed just that one run on two hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. Through four starts, he owns a 2.29 ERA over 19 2/3 innings. It also marked the first time this season he worked beyond the fifth inning.

“Coming into today, I wanted to go as deep as I could into the game. Got through six,” said Early. “It's nice to get through six innings for the first time this year.”

“He was working fast, efficient,” Story said. “He was attacking. He set the tone. He gave up the one homer, but it didn’t faze him at all, and right back on the attack. So that’s the kind of pitching you love to play defense behind and keeps us on our toes and keeps us ready to make a play.”

Early continued to reinforce Cora’s philosophy of when the Red Sox pitch well, they win games.

“I’ve been saying it all along,” said Cora. “When we pitch, we’re gonna win. Great job by the offense, great job by [Early]. For him to give us that was very important.”

The Sox are 7-0 when they get a quality start and 0-11 when they don’t.

“It’s super nice to go six,” Early said. “Obviously the offense did an amazing job working their starter. I feel like that’s the name of the game, if our starter can go longer than theirs, we’re in a really good spot."

Early leaned on his four-seam fastball, throwing it 31 times and generating three swings and misses. He topped out at 96.5 mph and averaged 93.9 mph with the pitch. He also picked up two whiffs with his changeup and one each with his curveball and sweeper, according to Baseball Savant.

He wasn’t the only one who stood out Wednesday. Story had a big day at the plate, driving in five runs, his highest single-game total since June 2025.

Story capped a five-run third inning with a 411-foot, three-run homer to left-center off Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson, his second of the season. He added a two-run double in the sixth to extend Boston’s lead to 9-1, finishing the day with five RBI to pace the club with 17 on the year. Story also reached base three times, drawing a walk.

Boston’s rally in the third was sparked by a defensive miscue. With the bases loaded and nobody out, second baseman Luke Keaschall committed both a fielding and throwing error on Masataka Yoshida’s soft grounder, allowing two runs to score and giving the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. Story’s three-run blast followed on the very next pitch.

Monasterio went 3-for-5, highlighted by an RBI double in the fifth that extended Boston’s lead to 6-1. Story, Anthony, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa each added two hits, while Jarren Duran was the lone hitter without a knock, going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. Boston’s offense produced nine runs despite being without key bats in Contreras and Abreu.

“It’s good for the whole team,” Contreras said. “Like I said before, it's a whole team. It's not about one guy. I'm glad that they stepped up today. Took good at-bats, took advantage of everything they could, of course the big homer for Trevor. We won today. That's what’s important.”

It got a little dicey in the ninth with Boston holding a 9-1 lead. What should have been a routine inning turned messy as Ryan Watson allowed four runs, including a three-run homer to Ryan Kreidler.

Watson ultimately worked through the damage, and the Red Sox held on to win the series finale.

“Yeah, that felt good,” Story said. “Obviously, we needed to win this one today to finish the road trip .500. I had a chance early in the game, second and third with less than two [outs], and didn't get it done. So I felt good about getting it done that second time.”

The Red Sox are off Thursday before returning to Fenway Park on Friday to begin a seven-game homestand, four against the Tigers followed by three against the Yankees. Left-hander Ranger Suárez (1-1, 5.02 ERA) is set to start Friday night’s opener against Detroit at 7:15 p.m. The Tigers have yet to announce a starter.

Additional Takeaways From Series

Yoshida needs more consistent playing time.

In the series finale, Yoshida