Edouard Julien and Ryan Jeffers drove in two runs apiece, and the Minnesota Twins held on for a 5-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Willi Castro went 2-for-3 with a double for Minnesota, which won its 11th game in a row. The Twins have not lost since April 21 against the Detroit Tigers.
Rafael Devers went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs to lead Boston. Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran recorded the only other hits for the Red Sox.
Twins right-hander Chris Paddack (3-1) allowed two hits in six scoreless innings. He walked one and struck out six.
Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck (3-3) gave up four runs on six hits in six-plus innings. He walked two and struck out five.
Twins closer Jhoan Duran pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season.
The Twins opened the scoring in the bottom of the third. Castro hit a leadoff double to left field, advanced to third base on a groundout by Alex Kirilloff and scored on Julien’s single to left.
The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the seventh, when the Twins erupted for four runs to increase their lead to 5-0.
Pinch runner Austin Martin scored the first run of the inning on a throwing error by catcher Reese McGuire. Castro put down a sacrifice bunt and McGuire fielded it and fired a throw to second base to try to get a force out, but his throw was wide right of the bag and bounced into shallow center field.
Three batters later, Julien drew a bases-loaded walk to score Castro. Jeffers followed with a two-run double to score Jose Miranda and Kirilloff and make it 5-0.
Boston got on the scoreboard with two runs in the top of the eighth. McGuire reached on a hit-by-pitch and Duran doubled. Devers drove in both of them with a two-out double to center.
Red Sox second baseman Vaughn Grissom made his team debut and went 0-for-3. Grissom, whom Boston acquired in a deal that sent left-hander Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves, spent the first month of the season on the injured list with a hamstring strain.
