BOSTON — The Red Sox came home Friday night and opened a six-game homestand with a three-game series against the Twins, sending Payton Tolle to the mound against Connor Prielipp at Fenway Park. Boston returned after a day off and after a 4-2 road trip through Atlanta and Kansas City, while Minnesota arrived having won three of its last four games.
The opener matched two clubs trending in different but meaningful ways. Boston had won three straight after finishing off a sweep of the Royals with a 4-3 win on Wednesday, and Tolle was coming off the best start of his young major league run, a 3-2 win over the Braves last Saturday in which he worked eight innings. Prielipp, meanwhile, was making his sixth start for Minnesota after striking out eight in six innings and taking a 2-1 loss to the Brewers in his most recent outing.
Boston’s lineup again leaned on Jarren Duran, who started in left field after going 7 for 19 with six extra-base hits and six RBIs over his last five games. Ceddanne Rafaela started in center, Wilyer Abreu was in right, Willson Contreras played first base, Romy Monasterio was the designated hitter, Nick Sogard started at shortstop, Marcelo Mayer was at second, Carlos Narváez caught and David Durbin handled third base. Contreras came in with a five-game hitting streak and was 9 for 20 in that span, giving the Red Sox another bat to complement Duran’s recent surge.
Minnesota countered with Byron Buxton at designated hitter, Brooks Lee at third base, Mickey Martin in center, Willi Castro at first base, Austin Martin in left, Ryan Kreidler at shortstop, Kody Clemens in right, Luke Keaschall at second base and Carson C. behind the plate. Prielipp had not faced any Boston batters before Friday, a small but notable layer in a start that put him across from a lineup that had been producing lately and had returned home with momentum.
The Twins also entered the series carrying a harder roster problem. Catcher Ryan Jeffers went on the injured list Tuesday with a left hamate bone fracture and is expected to miss 6 to 8 weeks. He was hitting.295 with 26 RBIs. The loss thins Minnesota behind the plate and removes one of its more reliable run producers at a time when the club has still managed to stay afloat, in part because its rotation has been strong.
That strength showed in the numbers. Minnesota ranked fifth in the majors with 21 quality starts of six or more innings and three or fewer earned runs, and it ranked seventh in starter ERA at 3.67. Managing that workload without Jeffers is now part of the challenge. Twins manager Derek Shelton said the club prepared for the possibility that it would need more from its catching depth, pointing to Victor Caratini and the offseason effort to add another major league catcher. He added that the offense would have to be spread across more players because Jeffers had been so productive.
That is the tension in this series: Boston is trying to turn a good road trip and a three-game winning streak into a stronger hold on its home field, while Minnesota is trying to keep its pitching advantage intact without one of its steadier hitters and catchers. Friday’s opener offered both teams a clean early test, with Tolle trying to extend his momentum and Prielipp trying to prove his sixth start could look like the kind of outing that has kept the Twins competitive.
What happens next now sits on the mound and in the middle innings. If Boston’s lineup keeps getting production from Duran, Contreras and the rest of the order, the Red Sox can make this homestand matter quickly. If Minnesota’s pitching depth holds and Prielipp settles in, the Twins can make Fenway’s first night of the series more than just the start of another home stretch.
