The story of the Boston Red Sox’s matchup with the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday was an inability to capitalize on scoring chances.
Until it wasn’t.
After consistently blowing scoring opportunities, the Red Sox took full advantage in extra innings when Alex Verdugo capped off an insane 10th inning with a tight-rope hit to complete the Red Sox’s first extra-inning walk-off of the season.
Boston left 11 runners on base through the first nine innings, putting together an incredible display of not taking advantage of opportunity. That was before Kiké Hernández was involved in a pair of weird plays that kept Boston in the game.
Hernández’s leadoff single in the eighth set the table for what looked like yet another catcher’s interference that would benefit the Red Sox. Instead, the ball that was put in play off the bat of Reese McGuire, and was sloppily handled by the Twins, which allowed Hernández to advance to third base and eventually score on a Jarren Duran grounder. In the 10th, Hernández reached on a strikeout that got away from former friend Christian Vázquez. Triston Casas walked to load the bases before Reese McGuire looped a single into left field to tie the game. Duran then singled to reload the bases. A double play set up yet another two-out opportunity for Verdugo, who delivered.
The Red Sox victory pushed them back to .500 on the season, giving them an even 9-9 record. They will run things back with the Twins on Wednesday night at Fenway Park with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET. You can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN or with NESN 360.
