After both teams banked series wins earlier this week, the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins open a three-game set in Boston with a battle of young left-handed pitchers on Friday night.
The Red Sox return home with momentum following their second series sweep of the season and this month, taking all three games in a road set against the Kansas City Royals. Jarren Duran’s two-run home run in the seventh inning was the difference in a 4-3 win on Wednesday.
The leadoff hitter in interim manager Chad Tracy’s lineup of late, Duran has only a .195 average on the season, but he has gone 7-for-19 with six extra-base hits and six RBI in his last five games. He has posted three multi-hit games over that span.
“His at-bats have been good for about five games now, dating back to Atlanta,” Tracy said. “And yeah, when you’re sitting atop the offense in front of Wilyer (Abreu) and Willson (Contreras) and that group of guys, if he starts going, it’s no secret that’s going to help us go. He’s taking some really, really big at-bats right now.”
Contreras was 3-for-4 with a triple on Wednesday, extending his hit streak to five consecutive games (9-for-20).
The Red Sox turn the ball to left-hander Payton Tolle (2-2, 2.05 ERA), who is coming off a career-high outing of eight innings en route to a 3-2 win Saturday at the Atlanta Braves. The 23-year-old has allowed no more than three runs over his five starts since his April 23 recall from Triple-A Worcester.
“It made me feel like more of a complete pitcher than I was last year, when I was just trying to throw the ball by guys every time,” said Tolle, who still has his rookie status after making his major league debut in late August 2025. “That doesn’t work. I was just able to pitch a little bit more, instead of just throw.”
Minnesota claimed its recent series against the Houston Astros with a 4-1 win on Wednesday, but the Twins remain in the early stages of trying to replace injured Ryan Jeffers.
The catcher, who is one of the team’s most productive hitters with a .295 batting average and 26 RBI, went on the injured list on Tuesday with a left hamate bone fracture and is expected to miss 6-to-8 weeks.
“One of the things that we were very thoughtful about this offseason was getting another major league catcher in terms of Victor (Caratini) and being able to fill that,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “The offensive production, we’re just going to have to fill it with multiple people because Ryan has been so good.”
Just six hits got the job done for the Twins in their last time out. Caratini had two of them, including a solo homer, and Ryan Kriedler followed with a three-run shot in support of Joe Ryan, who struck out nine and allowed four hits and no walks with just one run across six innings.
The Twins had lost three of their last four games before their current run of three wins in four. Their lone loss against the Astros was a 2-1 decision on Tuesday.
“Just getting reps and being able to play a little more consistently kind of carving out a role for myself, that’s been really fun,” said Kreidler, an outfielder. “I’m looking forward to just keep trying to win games.”
Minnesota rookie Connor Prielipp (1-2, 2.88) is expected to make his sixth career start in the series opener at Fenway Park, looking to continue a streak of pitching two-run ball or better in every game of his young career.
Most recently, Prielipp — a 25-year-old out of the University of Alabama — struck out a career-high eight over six innings last Saturday against the Milwaukee Brewers but took a tough 2-1 loss.
Prielipp’s MLB debut was on April 22 against the New York Mets, a week after the Twins finished taking two of three against the Red Sox in Minneapolis. Minnesota outscored Boston 24-15, including a 6-0 shutout win on April 14.
–Field Level Media
