MINNEAPOLIS -- For this Wednesday matinee at Target Field, the Red Sox just needed to regain their footing and get home in one piece after losing the first two games of the series to the Twins by an aggregate score of 19-6.
Well, everything started to change in the right direction for Boston when Minnesota second baseman Luke Keaschall literally lost his footing and landed on his back for a rare double error in the top of the third inning. Two runs came home.
On the very next pitch, Trevor Story mauled a three-run homer to left-center, and the Red Sox had some mojo back and were well en route to a 9-5 victory to salvage the finale of the three-game series and a 3-3 road trip, setting up a happy flight back to Boston.
Story (two-run double in the sixth) would be heard from again on a day he had five RBIs.
If veteran leader Story rebalanced his club from an offensive standpoint, rookie lefty Connelly Early was every bit as instrumental in doing so from the mound.
With ace Garrett Crochet and No. 2 starter Sonny Gray turning in surprisingly subpar starts the previous two games, Early proved why he is Boston’s No. 3 prospect as rated by MLB Pipeline. The 24-year-old fired six sparkling innings in which he allowed two hits and a run while walking two and striking out five. He threw 85 pitches, 52 for strikes, while lowering his ERA to 2.29.
The Sox are 7-0 when they get a quality start and 0-11 when they don’t.
Boston now heads home for a four-game series against the Tigers that starts on Friday, followed by three rivalry games vs. the Yankees as the club tries to chip away at its first goal of getting back to .500 for the first time since the second game of the season.
Not much has come easy for manager Alex Cora’s squad thus far in ‘26, which made this sunny afternoon in Minneapolis all the more enjoyable.