Jake Cave made a fantastic catch, Willians Astudillo hit a clutch single and Eddie Rosario threw out a runner at home plate to end the game and send the Twins to a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. The Twins took two of three games from Boston and now head home to play the Cleveland Indians.
The Tribe, meanwhile, lost again Thursday, so the Twins’ lead in the American League Central is back to 6.5 games. If the Twins can sweep the Indians over the weekend, that just might put the Tribe out of its misery.
The Twins’ Martin Perez, of all people, earned the win against Boston. After his previous lousy start, I was sure Boston hitters were going to knock him out of the game early, but Perez stepped up like a boss and allowed only one run over six innings to improve to 10-6.
The bullpen held the line the rest of the way, including Taylor Rogers who picked up his 24th save. But Rogers was bailed out by left fielder, Eddie Rosario, who made the play of the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
With the Twins leading 2-1 and Boston’s Rafael Devers on first base, J.D. Martinez doubled off the Green Monster. Devers tried to score on the hit, but Rosario played the one-hop off the wall, whirled and threw out Devers at home with about five feet to spare. Ballgame.
“I think when I saw the ball on the wall, I’m thinking I am the only chance to get this guy at home plate,” Rosario told MLB.com. “I want to try to [make] a good throw. I want to focus to finish the game.”
Michael Pineda gets the ball Friday at Target Field.
Extra innings…
-The Twins scored two runs on two hits. How do you do that when there are no extra-base hits? It helps to get a few walks, and Boston pitching issued nine of them on Thursday, including three to Miguel Sano, who scored both runs.
-Mitch Garver also walked three times.
-Boston turned three double plays on Wednesday and four more on Thursday.