Based on the forecast when this holiday weekend began, it did not look like baseball would be played this Sunday afternoon. But with the rain hewing closing to drizzle than downpour, “play ball!” was called! “Tarps off”, as the kids would say.
It proved to be a good development for the Minnesota Twins, who swept the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park for the first time since the early Clinton Administration!!
The Twins jumped on old friend Sonny Gray early—top 1—when a Trevor Larnach HBP & Josh Bell BB
turned into a run after Kody Clemens knocked a clean RBI single to right field. 1-0 MIN.
That slim advantage didn’t last long. In B2, Masataka Yoshida wrapped a sphere around the Pesky Pole in RF off of Twins SP Bailey Ober to tie the game.
Boston’s momentum lasted even a shorter duration. In T3, Brooks Lee drove a double to the stubby RF Fenway wall and was immediately plated by a Larnach RBI single. The Twins would go on to load the bases with zero outs and score—on a Victor Caratini GIDP and nothing further. The bare necessities. 3-1 MIN.
Alas, once again the Bearded Nightmare could not hold the lead for long. In B4, a Wilyer Abreu double off the Monster was immediately followed by a Willson Contreras home run over it to tie the contest again at 3-3. A Marcelo Meyer RBI single would later give the BoSox their first lead of the day. 4-3 BOS.
But as has happened this entire series, Twins’ bats fought back. In T6, singles from Orlando Arcia & Evan Kreidler brought the “good Sox” bullpen—in the form of RP Garrett Whitlock—into the contest. That proved to be a misnomer, as Whitlock was immediately greeted by an Austin Martin 2B to tie the game and a Lee 1B to put the visitors in front! 6-4 MIN.
After a bunt single put a leadoff Bostonian on in B8, Martin made a tremendous catch—Willie Mays basket-style over his head—to calm the waters for a bit. Despite further Red Sox rallying off Taylor Rogers, Yoendrys Gomez would enter and polish off the frame unscathed.
Gomez would stay in to try and close out the contest—a feat never easy for this bullpen crew. A leadoff triple and a BB upped the degree of difficulty further. With one out, former Twin-for-a-blink Isaiah Kiner-Falefa banged a ball off the Monster to score one and send the tying run in Connor Wong wheeling towards home plate—only to be thrown out on a nice relay from Larnach to Caratini!
There was, of course, still one out needed with a BOS runner standing on second base. Gomez would proceed to fall off the mound for a balk on pitch attempt #1, then hit a batter in pitch attempt #2 before being removed in favor of Travis Adams.
Adams’ first pitch to Ceddanne Rafaela: a scorching liner—right into the glove of RF Martin. Phew!!!!
Your Final: Minnesota Twins 6, Boston Red Sox 5
Ladies and gentlemen, YOUR Minnesota Twins have swept BoSox and are now a game away from being able to call themselves a non-losing baseball club! Truly one of the most engaging Twins series in quite some time.
Zach’s Zealot
- Mia the Goldendoodle: While dog-sitting my sister’s Goldendoodle this weekend, we watched all the games together and she has a perfect Twins record: 4-0, including Bark at the Park night when Ober tossed his complete game shutout gem.
Zach’s Zombie
- Not when the Twins sweep the Sawx at Fenway for the first time since Scott Erickson (W) & Rick Aguilera (SV) closed out a Beantown broom-fest in 1994 behind home runs from Kent Hrbek & Shane Mack!
Egg-cellent Elocution
- Resident writer Matt Monitto at the game giving us the Fenway weather report. Spoiler alert: it was raining.
Who’s Got Next
- For the first time in 2026, the Twins clash with the Chicago White Sox in four games on the South Side (Mon. afternoon, Tues. night, Wed. night, Thurs. afternoon).
