Price took the hill in the top of the first inning and was immediately tagged. Brian Dozier led off with a double to center. Dozier moved to third on the fly out by Robbie Grossman and scored on the Joe Mauer ground out. Miguel Sano flied out to right but it was 1-0 Twins early.
It would stay 1-0 as Kyle Gibson continued his hot pitching against the Red Sox in the bottom of the first. Mr. Mookie Betts led off with a ground out to second but Andrew Benintendi singled. Xander Bogaerts then banged into a double play to end the inning.
Price recovered to have a better top of the second inning. Eduardo Escobar flied out to right and Jorge Polanco struck out. Max Kepler struck out to end the inning. Gibson remained hot in the bottom of the second inning as Mitch Moreland grounded out and Hanley Ramirez popped up. Jackie Bradley Jr hit a bullet....right to first for out number three to end the inning.
Price cruised in the top of the third inning as Chris Giminez grounded out to third to begin the inning. Byron Buxton grounded out to short and Dozier flied out to center to end the inning. It was more of the same in the bottom of the third when Christian Vazquez grounded out but Tzu-Wei Lin singled up the middle. Unfortunately Deven Marrero grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The Twins tagged Price again in the top of the fourth inning. Grossman hit a ground rule double down the left field line and Mauer reached on an infield single to first, although there was no advancement. Sano whiffed again but Grossman moved to third on the fly out by Escobar. Polanco then doubled home both runners to increase the Twins lead. Kepler lined out to Bogaerts to end the inning but things looked bleak at 3-0.
Somehow the Sox showed some life in the bottom of the fourth inning when Mr. Mookie led off with his 13th home run of the year into the Monster Seats to cut the lead. Benny The Kid popped up to second, Bogaerts struck out and Moreland grounded out to end the inning, but the Sox were on the board 3-1.
Price recovered to have a strong top of the fifth inning. Giminez grounded out to third and Buxton flied out to center, but Dozier hit a swinging bunt to Price. Price picked the ball up and spiked it like a football, doing the Tweeter end-zone dance as Dozier reached second. Grossman grounded out to end the inning so the bizarre error meant nothing. The Sox exploded to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ramirez walked and JBJ doubled him home. Vazquez hit a routine ground ball but Polanco threw it away, allowing Vaz to reach first. Lin moved the runners into scoring position with a ground out and Marrero scored JBJ to tie the game. Mr. Mookie slammed a single to center to score Vazquez with the go-ahead run. Benny The Kid struck out but the Sox had taken the lead against a starter who had their number.
Could Price pitch with the lead? At first it looked like a hell no when Mauer singled. David recovered to strike out Sano, get Escobar to pup up and strike out Polanco to end the inning. The Sox struck again in the bottom of the sixth inning although Bogaerts grounded out to start. Moreland lined out but Ramirez blasted his 11th home run of the year to center. That was it for Kyle Gibson as Buddy Boshers replaced him and JBJ greeted him with a single. Vazquez flied out to end the inning but it was now 5-3 after the home run.
Price came back for one more inning and he struck out Kepler to open the top of the seventh. Gimenez flied out to center an Buxton struck out to end the inning. Price recovered from his shaky beginning to toss 7 innings of 3 run ball, putting them in position to win.
The Sox wrapped up the scoring in the bottom of the seventh when Lin electrified the crowd with a triple to open the inning. Marrero doubled down the left field line to score Lin but was stranded when Mr. Mookie flied out. Benny The Kid drew a walk to chase Boshers and old nemesis Phil Hughes was brought in. Bogaerts struck out and Moreland flied out to end the inning but it was a 6-3 game.
The first one out of the bullpen in the top of the 8th was Joe Kelly. Dozier, Grossman and Mauer all grounded out in short order. Nice work Kelly. Meanwhile Hughes kept the Sox in check in the bottom of the eighth. Ramirez grounded out but JBJ got another base hit. Vazquez flied out and Lin struck out to end the inning.
Craig "The Buzzard" Kimbrel took the mound in the top of the ninth to close it out. Kimbrel blew away Sano but Escobar singled. Polanco flied out to right as Escobar took second on defensive indifference. Craig blew away Kepler to end the game. The Sox had won it 6-3 and taken 3 of 4 from the Twins.
Hero of The Night is Mookie Betts. He got the offense started in the fourth and he drove in the go-ahead run in the 5th.
The Good:
Andrew Benintendi was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Hanley Ramirez was 1 for 3 with a walk, a solo home run and 2 runs scored.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 3 for 4 with an rbi and a run scored.
Tzu-Wei Lin was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Deven Marrero as 1 for 3 with rbi's.
David Price got the win by going 7 strong innings giving up 3 runs while striking out 7.
Joe Kelly pitched a scoreless 8th.
Craig Kimbrel earned his 22nd save by pitching a scoreless ninth.
The Bad:
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Mitch Moreland was 0 for 4.
The Ugly:
Christian Vazquez was 0 for 4 but scored a run.
Final Thoughts:
Nice to see David Price step up for once. Also nice to see the offense score more than 4 runs for once. The win moved the Sox to 44-35, 1 1/2 game ahead of the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Sox travel to Toronto for a 3 game set with the Blue Jays. Doug Fister gets the start for the Sox opposite Marco Estrada. Game 1 will be at 7:05 PM.
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