Twins Crush Red Sox Ace Crochet In 13-6 Victory

Minneapolis – In the earlier days of Target Field, when the Minnesota Twins were in the middle of four straight losing seasons, there was one day they’d always circle when they were at home. When the Chicago White Sox came to town, and Chris Sale was on the mound, they’d crush him.

The Twins did the same to Garrett Crochet, a former White Sox ace who’s now with the Boston Red Sox, on Monday night. Crochet didn’t even make it out of the second inning of their 13-6 victory over the Red Sox.

“We’re talking about one of the best pitchers in the game, and we executed our approach about as well as we could do it,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said postgame. “I don’t think you could do it any better. To get off to that start, it was fun to watch.”

“We weren't about him,” Byron Buxton said regarding Crochet being on the mound. “We were pushing it down the line to each other. That's what we talk about all the time, picking each other up. Today was a perfect example of that, focusing on what we can control. What we can control is what's on our side.”

The Twins exploded for 11 runs in the first two innings against one of the best lefties in the game. The 14,535 fans who attended Monday’s game also witnessed Target Field history in the later innings of the game. Byron Buxton entered the season tied with former teammate Max Kepler for the most home runs in Target Field history, 84.

He led off the bottom half of the fifth with a no-doubter to center field, landing in the bushes in front of the batter’s eye to break that tie with Kepler, and become the official home run king of Target Field with 85.

“I'm going to give him (Kepler) a few days on that,” Buxton said. “He might not be happy. I'll still talk to him, though. I try to text him once a week. That's still my boy, man.”

Bailey Ober started for the Twins and went the deepest he’s gone in any start this season. He allowed four runs on seven hits, including a two-run home run to Jarren Duran in the third. Still, Ober limited the Red Sox to just one walk and struck out seven on 95 pitches.

After a couple of starts with early exits this season, it was nice for him to have the run support to pitch deeper and show his stronger stuff against opposing hitters.

“Whenever you jump out to a big lead like that as a starting pitcher, you don't want to get into deep counts and fall behind and end up putting guys on base,” said Ober. “That's when crooked numbers can kind of show up. As long as you're attacking and making them swing, usually you're going to be in a good spot to hold them where they're at.”

Monday night’s victory marked the third consecutive game the Twins have scored seven or more runs against their opponents, and they’ve done so in four of their last six. While people were skeptical about how this offense would click coming into the season, the first-place Twins lineup is showing that their work getting to know each other in spring training has paid off early.

“This group enjoys being around each other,” Shelton said. “And I think the one thing about it is they all understand their roles. And they’re all doing a really good job in their roles,”

“We come to play baseball. We focus on ourselves,” said Buxton. “The one big thing I told them in spring training is the only thing that matters is who is in this clubhouse. Once you believe in that and you understand day in and day out this is the brotherhood, this is a family, it starts becoming reality for us.”