Red Sox snap Twins' 12-game win streak with 9-2 victory in series finale

The Minnesota loss came despite another solid start from Joe Ryan.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan (41) delivers a pitch against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Target Field in Minneapolis on May 5, 2024. / Matt Krohn / USA TODAY Sports

Well, they say 13 is an unlucky number. And the streak had to end eventually. 

The Boston Red Sox made sure the Twins wouldn't see their win streak reach 13 games, beating them 9-2 in the series finale Sunday afternoon at Target Field in Minneapolis.

The Twins' 12-game win streak matched the second-longest run in franchise history and was just three games shy of the top mark in team history, a 15-game win streak that came in June of 1991. 

The loss came despite another solid start from Joe Ryan, who allowed three runs on four hits while fanning five across six innings of work. Ryan sent the Red Sox lineup down in order through three innings before being tagged for a run in the fourth and two in the fifth. 

The Twins (19-14) took the first lead of the contest in the third inning when Ryan Jeffers took a sinker from Red Sox starter Cooper Criswell 385 feet into left-center field for his sixth homer of the year, but Boston (19-16) answered immediately in the fourth inning to tie the game up at 1-1. 

Jarren Duran led off the frame with a double, and after Rafael Devers grounded out, Rob Refsnyder doubled to score Duran and knot the game. Refsnyder, the Red Sox’s top hitter coming into the game with a .343 batting average, would later leave the contest due to left hamstring tightness. 

The Red Sox took a 3-1 advantage when Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run shot off Ryan in the fifth inning that went 398 feet into left-center field. They wouldn't trail again after that.

The Red Sox added four more runs in the eighth inning off Twins reliever Kody Funderburk. With one out, Devers hit a single, Tyler O'Neill followed up with a double and Wilyer Abreu drew a walk to load the bases. That set the stage for Vaughn Grissom, who hit a two-RBI double off the center-field wall to make it a 5-1 Red Sox advantage. But they weren't done there.

Dominic Smith followed up with another two-RBI double that got through the glove of Manny Margot in left field to seal the deal for the Red Sox with a 7-1 lead.

Jay Jackson came on in relief of Funderburk after that, and he got Reese McGuire to ground out and Rafaela to fly out to end the inning. The Twins got a run back in the eighth inning when Trevor Larnach hit an RBI single to score Max Kepler, who had doubled earlier in the frame.

But for good measure, Devers hit a two-run homer off Jackson in the ninth inning to put an exclamation point on the Red Sox's streak-ending victory.

The Twins had some good scoring chances of their own but were unable to convert. In the second inning, Kepler, Carlos Correa and Larnach all hit consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs. But Criswell struck out Willi Castro and Carlos Santana before getting Jose Miranda to hit a grounder in the infield that Criswell threw to McGuire for the out at home to prevent any damage.

Criswell went 4 1/3 innings in all, allowing one run on five hits while fanning five. 

The Twins also had an opportunity in the fifth inning when Santana led off the frame with a double, but Red Sox reliever Brennan Bernardino sent Jose Miranda, Margot and Edouard Julien down in order after that to end the threat and preserve their 3-1 lead.

Kepler and Correa both drew walks from Red Sox reliever Zach Kelly in the sixth inning with one out, but Kelly struck out Larnach and got Castro to fly out to center to end the inning. 

In all, the Twins went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position. 

The streak was always going to come to an end eventually. But the Twins put themselves in a much better position with the 12-game run, which started on April 22 when they had a 7-13 record.