By Tiffany Williams –
Under a blazing 79-degree Florida sun with a lazy 5 mph breeze drifting left to right, the bats of the Boston Red Sox finally woke up — and when they did, they buried the Minnesota Twins in a seven-run avalanche that flipped this spring training showdown on its head.
At 1:06 p.m. sharp inside the spring home of the Twins at the Lee Health Sports Complex in Fort Myers, the Twins struck first and looked comfortable. By late afternoon, they were unraveling in the Florida heat, committing four errors and coughing up five runs in the final three innings of a 7-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
This wasn’t just a February tune-up. This was a late-game gut punch.
Minnesota jumped ahead in the bottom of the first when Royce Lewis turned on a 96-mph four-seamer and launched it 413 feet to left-center. The crack of the bat echoed through the complex. Lewis didn’t admire it long — he didn’t have to. It was gone. Just like that, the Minnesota Twins led 1-0 and looked sharp.
They added another in the fourth. Lewis again. A single to left that brought Luke Keaschall around to score. Two RBIs on the afternoon for Lewis, who was the only Twin consistently squaring the ball up. Through four innings, Minnesota led 2-0 and Boston’s offense looked as if it had left its thunder back in Massachusetts.
Then came the shift.
In the top of the fifth, Red Sox infielder Andruw Monasterio turned on a 93-mph sinker from Justin Topa and sent it 368 feet into the left-field seats. No doubt. No cheapie. Just a clean swing that sliced the lead in half and put Boston on the board.
It was the first crack in the dam.
The real collapse came in the seventh — and it was loud.
Twins reliever Grant Hartwig entered with a slim 2-1 lead and walked into a mess he couldn’t escape. With two outs and runners moving, Red Sox second baseman Mikey Romero lined a single into center. Matt Thaiss scored. Kristian Campbell scored. Boston suddenly led 3-2.
The momentum? Gone.
Moments later, A. Castro grounded into what should have been a routine fielder’s choice to second. Instead, all runners were safe. The Twins didn’t make the clean play. The Red Sox cashed in. Ward crossed the plate. 4-2 Boston.
Hartwig was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs — two earned — in just one inning. Spring training or not, it was a brutal frame. One inning. Two hits. A walk. Zero strikeouts. Control gone. Execution worse.
And if Minnesota thought it could regroup, the ninth inning was a full-on unraveling.
Reliever I. Romero took the mound and watched the game slip away pitch by pitch. Castro singled to center, driving in Romero to make it 5-2. Then Mickey Gasper punched a single to right, bringing Castro home. 6-2. Still not done.
With two outs, Nick Sogard lined a ball to short. Luke Keaschall’s throw sailed. An error. Hickey scored. Gasper took second. The inning ended, but the damage didn’t. Three more runs. Four total Minnesota errors on the day. That’s not “rust.” That’s sloppy baseball.
Final line: Boston 7 runs, 9 hits, 0 errors. Minnesota 2 runs, 5 hits, 4 errors.
That’s the difference.
Boston’s bullpen locked it down after Lewis’ fourth-inning RBI. Seven pitchers combined to allow just five hits and two runs over nine innings. Right-hander J. Webb picked up the win with a clean frame. M. Sansone shut the door for the save, throwing 28 pitches and striking out one over two scoreless innings.
Minnesota’s offense, outside of Lewis’ fireworks, disappeared. Byron Buxton went 0-for-2. The lineup struck out eight times and didn’t draw a single walk. Not one. In February baseball, when pitchers are still finding feel, that’s alarming.
The Twins’ pitching staff actually opened strong. Brent Stull tossed two scoreless innings. Simeon Woods Richardson followed with two more clean frames. Through four innings, Minnesota arms had surrendered just one hit. But once Boston adjusted, the cracks showed.
Topa gave up the Monasterio homer. Hartwig imploded in the seventh. I. Romero was tagged for three runs in the ninth. ERA numbers ballooned in a hurry — 9.00 here, 18.00 there. It’s spring training, yes. But scoreboard math doesn’t care about context.
Boston’s lineup didn’t exactly mash all afternoon — they struck out seven times — but they capitalized. Four walks. Timely singles. Aggressive baserunning. And when Minnesota handed them extra outs, they cashed in.
Romero drove in two. Gasper added an RBI. Monasterio went yard. Castro chipped in with two runs scored and two RBIs. That’s production from the depth pieces — the kind that creates uncomfortable roster decisions as camp moves on.
For Minnesota, Lewis was the lone spark. A 413-foot missile. A run-scoring single. Two hits in two at-bats. The rest of the lineup combined for three hits. Three.
This wasn’t a heavyweight clash. It was a tale of execution. Boston executed late. Minnesota didn’t.
The Florida sun stayed bright. The breeze stayed gentle. But by the final out, it felt like a storm had rolled through the Twins’ dugout.
Seven runs. Nine hits. Four Minnesota errors. And a 7-2 final that felt more lopsided than the box score even suggests.
Spring training or not, collapses leave a mark.