Twins finally find offense in extra innings and beat Boston 4-2 in 12

BOSTON – Maybe the Twins learned something from their four nail-biting games in Cleveland because on Friday night, they won in a very Guardians way: They had the better bullpen.

David Festa gave up one run in a taxing five-inning start, and eight members of the Twins relief corps put zeroes on the scoreboard the rest of the way. The Twins, shut out by Boston rookie Richard Fitts for five innings, eventually managed to scrounge up their biggest inning since Monday — three whole runs — against Red Sox relievers and claim a 4-2, 12-inning victory at Fenway Park.

The victory, only the Twins’ sixth in the past 17 games, carried even more meaning, thanks to the ballpark’s old-fashioned scoreboard on the Green Monster, a fixture that confirmed that the Tigers were getting badly beaten in Baltimore. The two results mean the Twins once again own a lead on hard-charging Detroit, a one-game edge with eight to play for the final American League wild-card invitation.

It’s hard to describe this victory as a statement game, unless the statement is about how their offense remains stuck in quicksand. Yes, the Twins racked up 13 hits on the night, but 12 of them were singles, and until the 12th inning, none of them, not even the four that came with runners in scoring position, drove in a run.

The breakthrough came, finally, nearly four hours after the game’s first pitch. With Cooper Criswell, the seventh Boston reliever called upon, on the mound, Byron Buxton singled off third baseman Romy Gonzalez’s glove, moving courtesy runner Kyle Farmer to third base. Trevor Larnach followed with a hit that traveled an even shorter distance, glancing off Criswell’s glove and bouncing toward shortstop.