Minesota Twins finally find their offensive in the extra innings and beat the Boston Red Sox 4-2 in 12

BOSTON — Maybe the Twins learned something from their four nerve-wracking games in Cleveland, because Friday night they won in a typical Guardians way: They had the better bullpen.

David Festa allowed just one run in a grueling five-inning start, and seven members of the Twins’ relief corps put zeros on the scoreboard (and strikeouts on the scorecard) for the rest of the game. The Twins, who were unbeaten by Boston rookie Richard Fitts for five innings, finally managed to produce their strongest inning since Monday – three complete runs – against the Red Sox relief pitchers to earn a 4-2 victory in 12 innings at Fenway Park.

“That was incredibly impressive and courageous. We put so many guys under pressure in that game,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said after his pitchers combined to strike out 20 Red Sox batters, the most in Twins history. “A lot of the relievers came in and just battled through it, very determined. I love what I saw from the guys today. It’s a huge win.”

It was only their sixth in the last 17 games, but it was all the more meaningful after the stadium’s old-fashioned scoreboard confirmed that the Tigers had been soundly beaten in Baltimore. The two results mean the Twins once again have a lead over stubborn Detroit, a game ahead with eight games left to play for the American League’s final wild-card invitation.

“It’s nice to be back on the winning list,” said Cole Sands, who allowed a leadoff double to Ceddanne Rafaela in the seventh inning and then let him down with strikeouts of the next three batters. “It seems like everyone did their part tonight. We just have to keep going.”

It’s hard to call this win a statement game unless it’s about their offense continuing to be stuck in quicksand. Yes, the Twins got 13 hits on the night, but 12 of them were singles, and until the 12th inning, none of them, not even the four that came with runners in scoring position, scored a run.

Nearly four hours after the first pitch of the game, the breakthrough finally came. Cooper Criswell, Boston’s seventh relief pitcher, was on the mound, and Byron Buxton hit a single off the glove of third baseman Romy Gonzalez, moving relief runner Kyle Farmer to third base. Trevor Larnach followed with a hit that traveled an even shorter distance, ricocheted off Criswell’s glove and bounced toward shortstop.