MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Victor Caratini and Ryan Jeffers each homered and drove in three runs on Monday and the Minnesota Twins knocked out Boston starter Garrett Crochet in the second inning en route to a 13-6 victory.
Jeffers had three of the Twins’ 11 hits, while Ryan Kreidler and Byron Buxton also homered. Minnesota has won seven of its last eight games.
Bailey Ober (2-0) allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out seven in six innings.
Jarren Duran homered and Caleb Durbin had two hits and scored two runs for Boston.
The Twins ambushed Crochet with four runs in the first inning, then knocked out Boston’s ace lefty with a seven-run second. Crochet (2-2) allowed 11 runs — 10 earned — on nine hits and three walks in 1 2/3 innings, the shortest start of his career.
The big blows in the second came from two new faces hitting their first home runs with the Twins. Caratini hit a three-run blast off the facing of the third deck in left field. Then Kreidler, a light-hitting utility infielder with two career home runs, sent Crochet’s last pitch into the second deck in left for a solo homer.
The Twins posted a 13-23 record against left-handed starters last year. But in the last seven days, they have beaten Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez, Toronto’s Eric Lauer and now Crochet. In those four outings, the Twins scored 29 earned runs in 16 2/3 innings pitched by the starters.
Buxton’s solo homer in the fifth was the 85th of his career at Target Field, moving past Max Kepler to become the all-time leader at the Twins’ ballpark.
Up next
Twins RHP Mick Abel (0-2, 6.08 ERA) will face Boston RHP Sonny Gray (2-0, 2.76) in the second game of the series on Tuesday.