The Red Sox had an opportunity to avoid a series sweep on Sunday afternoon. Instead, they watched another late lead disappear.<\/p>\n
Boston carried a one-run advantage into the sixth inning but could not hold it, falling 6-5 to the Twins in rainy conditions at Fenway Park. The loss completed a three-game sweep and dropped the Red Sox to 22-30 on the season, eight games below .500.<\/p>\n
Things won\u2019t get any easier from here.<\/p>\n
After an off day Monday, Boston will welcome the Braves, owners of the best record in baseball, to Fenway Park before heading on the road to face the first-place Guardians.<\/p>\n
The turning point of the game came in the sixth inning.<\/p>\n
Protecting a 4-3 lead, interim manager Chad Tracy turned to Tyron Guerrero before calling on Garrett Whitlock in relief. The two combined to allow three runs, turning a one-run advantage into a deficit Boston never fully recovered from.<\/p>\n
Guerrero recorded two strikeouts but allowed a pair of singles, including a two-out hit by No. 9 hitter Ryan Kreidler that extended the inning.<\/p>\n
Tracy then summoned Whitlock for his earliest appearance of the season.<\/p>\n
The right-hander immediately surrendered a game-tying RBI double to Austin Martin\u00a0before\u00a0Brooks Lee followed with a two-run single that gave Minnesota a 6-4 lead.<\/p>\n
Lee\u2019s hit likely should have scored only one run, but Carlos Narv\u00e1ez was unable to secure Jarren Duran\u2019s throw home as Martin crossed the plate.<\/p>\n
Sonny Gray endured his roughest outing since returning from the injured list.<\/p>\n
The veteran recorded two quick outs in the first inning before Minnesota forced him to labor through a 29-pitch frame. Kody Clemens\u00a0delivered an RBI single to put the Twins ahead 1-0, and a throwing error by Wilyer Abreu allowed runners to advance into scoring position.<\/p>\n
Gray escaped further damage and settled in afterward.<\/p>\n
The Twins added two more runs in the third inning after Lee doubled and Trevor Larnach singled home a run before a series of infield hits loaded the bases with nobody out.<\/p>\n
One of those ground balls ricocheted off Gray\u2019s cleat, but the right-hander remained in the game after briefly being checked by trainers.<\/p>\n
The inning could have been much worse.<\/p>\n
Making his first major league start at shortstop, Marcelo Mayer started a critical double play that allowed Gray to limit the damage. Only one run scored on the sequence, and Gray retired the next hitter to escape the inning.<\/p>\n
Gray finished with three runs allowed on six hits over four innings while walking two, hitting one batter, and striking out four.<\/p>\n
Boston responded immediately after falling behind.<\/p>\n
Masataka Yoshida tied the game in the second inning with his first home run of the season, sending a drive into the empty right-field seats just hours after addressing questions about his future with the organization.<\/p>\n
Asked before the game whether he would welcome a trade that could provide everyday playing time, Yoshida gave a measured response.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s part of the game, right? If it happens, it happens,\u201d Yoshida said through translator Yutaro Yamaguchi.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox grabbed their first lead in the fourth.<\/p>\n
Willson Contreras\u00a0launched a two-run homer after Abreu doubled to begin the inning. Yoshida followed with a double of his own and later scored on Mayer\u2019s two-out RBI single down the right-field line, giving Boston a 4-3 advantage.<\/p>\n
Boston had chances late but couldn\u2019t deliver the decisive hit.<\/p>\n
After coming up empty with runners at second and third and one out in the eighth inning, the Red Sox mounted one final threat in the ninth.<\/p>\n
Nick Sogard opened the inning with a triple, and Narv\u00e1ez drew a walk to put runners on the corners with nobody out.<\/p>\n
Mayer had an opportunity to add another memorable moment to his first start at shortstop, but struck out swinging.<\/p>\n
Moments later, Isiah Kiner-Falefa appeared to have delivered a dramatic walk-off hit. Off the bat, the ball looked destined for the seats, but instead slammed off the Green Monster for a long single.<\/p>\n
Connor Wong was thrown out at the plate on the play, killing Boston\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n
It seems that Wong wasn\u2019t on his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Red Sox had an opportunity to avoid a series sweep on Sunday afternoon. Instead, they watched another…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,48,822,60,3190,4,89,63119,63118,148],"class_list":["post-707864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-twins","tag-baseball","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-minnesotatwins","tag-mlb","tag-red-sox","tag-sticky","tag-top-red-sox","tag-twins"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116632053630223216","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}