Red Sox Lose to Twins

Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images

May 22, 2026

Twins 8, Red Sox 6

The Boston Red Sox lost, 8–6, to the Minnesota Twins on Friday night at Fenway Park. Despite a three-run lead in the seventh inning, Justin Slaten gave up four runs to get himself the loss for this game. Travis Adams earned the win, pitching two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

Red Sox-Twins Game Summary

First Inning Fireworks

The Red Sox put together immediate run support for Payton Tolle, who struck out two hitters in the first inning. To get things started, Wilyer Abreu knocked a double off the center field wall to score Jarren Duran from first. The next batter, Willson Contreras, notched an RBI triple off the green monster as Austin Martin couldn’t play it off the wall. Andruw Monasterio bounced a ground ball over the head of third baseman Brooks Lee to make it 3–0. Finally, a Marcelo Mayer sacrifice fly made it 4–0 through the first inning.

Second Inning Scares

The Twins didn’t exactly give up however, as Ryan Kreidler bounced an RBI double over the head of Caleb Durbin to cut the lead to 4–1. With the bases loaded, Luke Keaschall lined an RBI single to right field to make it 4–2. Yet another RBI single from Byron Buxton got the Twins within one. Tolle got the next two outs to keep the Red Sox in the lead going into the bottom of the second.

With runners on the corners in the fourth inning, Durbin threw down a sacrifice bunt to drive in Nick Sogard. In the process, Connor Prielipp threw the ball away, giving the top of the order runners on second and third. Duran hit a soft groundball to first base, extending the lead to 6–3.

Twins Comeback

In the seventh inning, with Keaschall on first, Buxton drove a cutter from Slaten into the monster seats to cut it to 6–5. Two batters later, Austin Martin sent another cutter into the seats for another two run bomb to take a 7–6 lead.

The Red Sox gave themselves the chance to tie or take the lead, getting two runners on with two outs in the eighth. However, Anthony Banda came in to force a Mickey Gasper fly out to end the rally.

Tyler Samaniego loaded the bases in the ninth before 35-year-old Tyron Guerrero made his season debut, his first appearance in the majors since 2019 with the Miami Marlins.

Despite the top of the lineup due up for the ninth inning, Wilyer Abreu grounded into a double play to end the game.

What Went Right for the Red Sox

Tolle’s Rebound

After a real shaky second inning, Tolle got right back to his first inning form for the rest of his outing. He managed to make it six innings despite that nightmare inning.

What Went Wrong for the Red Sox

Slaten Off Game

Slaten gave an uncharacteristically bad performance tonight. His cutter kept finding the middle of the plate. The worst part for the Red Sox is that it wasted a great offensive