Red Sox out-blast and outlast Twins in 8-5 victory

Byron Buxton went on the 10-day injured list before the game, Carlos Correa exited the game after two innings due to lightheadedness, and it was 25-year-old right-hander Pierson Ohl’s big league debut.

After falling to the Minnesota Twins late Monday night following a frustrating weather delay between the top and bottom of the ninth, Tuesday presented a prime opportunity for the Red Sox, if they could only seize it.

Capitalizing consistently isn’t this team’s greatest strength, but you wouldn’t know it watching them in this 8-5 Red Sox win.

After slow and frustrating goings in the early innings – Jarren Duran’s two-out double in the first was for naught, and Harrison Bader leapt up at the center-field wall to rob Wilyer Abreu of a 409-foot blast either for extra bases or a trip around the diamond – the Boston bats got going in the third. They racked up 10 hits in all, including eight for extra bases and a pair of towering home runs by Trevor Story and Duran. Aside from No. 8 hitter David Hamilton, every player in the lineup contributed at least one hit.

Ceddanne Rafaela’s one-out triple was his first extra-base hit since the All-Star break, and at 394 feet, would have been a homer in six ballparks. He became the first player to touch home, thanks to an RBI single by new Red Sox leadoff man Roman Anthony.

Alex Bregman didn’t get an RBI to go with his 20th double of the season — left fielder Willi Castro made a fielding error — but Anthony made it home safely nonetheless.

Bregman’s trip home was a leisurely one. Story turned a 3-2 change-up into a 404-foot two-run shot, his 16th homer of the year. The round-tripper snapped an 0-for-11 skid, and was the veteran shortstop’s first home run since July 8. Even so, Story’s 41 RBIs since June 1 lead the division and rank fourth in the American League, behind only Riley Greene (Tigers), Nick Kurtz (A’s) and Cal Raleigh (Mariners).

Ohl walked Abreu on four pitches before escaping further damage, but Twins manager Rocco Baldelli wasn’t going to let the Red Sox face him again.

Baldelli couldn’t stop the Boston bats from adding on, though. Of the four relievers Baldelli sent to the mound, only Cole Sands pitched a clean inning. In the fifth, Jarren Duran sent Michael Tonkin’s 2-2 four-seamer 446 feet to center to extend Boston’s lead to 5-0.

Kody Funderburk had a long sixth inning, but he was able to limit the damage. Carlos Narvaéz and Abraham Toro greeted him with back-to-back hits — a single and ground-rule double, respectively — and Rafaela’s sacrifice fly plated the sixth Red Sox run. Funderburk walked Anthony, but got Bregman to pop out in foul territory to strand two.

It helped that the Red Sox didn’t have to come from behind for a change (they are 19-36 when opponents score first). Working around a couple of jams, Lucas Giolito gave his teammates six innings of one-run ball. He yielded five hits and two walks, but got the Twins to leave seven men on base. After allowing the first two batters to reach on a walk and single, Giolito retired 13 of the next 14. He lowered his ERA from 3.97 to 3.80, and the Red Sox are 8-2 when he doesn’t allow a home run.

Giolito led with his four-seamer (48 pitches), but his change-up was particularly effective. Of the 29 he threw, the Twins swung at 15 and whiffed on nine.

Boston’s only real trouble came from Brooks Lee, who wasn’t originally slated to play in the contest. Replacing Correa early on, the switch hitter drove in or scored all five of the Twins’ runs. He tagged Giolito with an RBI single in the fifth, and his two-run homer off Justin Wilson in the seventh momentarily knocked the wind out of Boston’s sails.

The eighth inning was risky too, albeit for a very different reason. Sunday night’s horrendously turbulent flight, which included an unexpected diversion to Detroit, rendered more than one pitcher unavailable for Monday’s series opener. Before the first contest, Cora told reporters he wasn’t sure if Garrett Whitlock would be able to pitch in the series. The lanky right-hander was also seen walking around the visitors’ clubhouse with an IV drip.

Barely one day later, Whitlock worked around a leadoff single by Roger Clemens’ son Kody, and retired the next three Twins in the eighth.

Aroldis Chapman warmed up in the bullpen as his teammates came to bat against Louis Varland in the ninth. But when Story and Abreu lined back-to-back RBI doubles to balloon Boston’s lead to five, Cora opted to see if Jorge Alcala could close it out, instead.

For the second night in a row, Alcala couldn’t get the job done against the team that dealt him to Boston earlier this season. When Ryan Jeffers reached on a fielding error by Story, Alcala found himself walking a mile in Wilson’s shoes; batting from the other side of the plate against the righty reliever, Lee blasted his second two-run homer in as many at-bats.

After Alcala gave up a two-out single to Royce Lewis, Cora called upon his closer. Chapman, who exited Sunday’s Dodgers finale with back spasms, picked up his 19th save after just three pitches, as ’24 Red Sox rookie Mickey Gasper went down swinging.

The Red Sox are 58-51. Their .696 winning percentage for the month is the best mark in the AL, second only to the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Twins season series concludes Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. ET. Brayan Bello has the ball for Boston, and it will be a bullpen game for the home team.

The Red Sox off day Thursday coincides with the MLB trade deadline.