Max Kepler hit a solo home run and the Minnesota Twins extended their winning streak to 12 games by beating the Boston Red Sox 3-1 Saturday in Minneapolis.
Kepler’s home run, his second of the season, broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning.
Minnesota’s winning streak is tied for the second longest in franchise history. The Twins also won 12 in a row in 1980. Minnesota won 15 straight games during the 1991 season en route to the World Series championship.
Minnesota starting pitcher Pablo Lopez (3-2) struck out eight in six innings. He gave up a run on five hits and walked one. Cole Sands pitched a clean ninth to earn his second save.
Willi Castro extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the bottom of the first. Castro and Kepler each went 2-for-4 in the win.
It was a bullpen game for Boston, which used five pitchers. Cam Booser (0-1), who gave up Kepler’s home run, took the loss. He allowed a run on two hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Wilyer Abreu and Dominic Smith each collected two hits for the Red Sox, who had eight hits in the game. Boston struck out 12 times.
Each team scored in the first.
The Red Sox opened the scoring on a two-out double by Tyler O’Neill and an RBI single from Abreu.
The Twins pulled even when Jose Miranda was hit by a pitch, took second on Castro’s single, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Carlos Correa’s groundout to third.
The Twins took a 2-1 lead on Kepler’s home run in the fourth and made it 3-1 when Castro scored on Correa’s sacrifice fly in the sixth. Castro singled to lead off the inning, and then took second and third on wild pitches by Justin Slaten.
Minnesota can sweep the three-game series with a victory on Sunday.
