Two homeruns supplied all the offense and a solid effort on the mound by Tanner Houck on Saturday afternoon would lift the Boston Red Sox to a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Twins for their first home win of the new season at Fenway Park.
In a scoreless game in the bottom of the second inning, JD Martinez walked to lead off and Alex Verdugo hit a long two-run homerun to left center his second in as many days and third of the season. With two out in the third, Xander Bogaerts added a two-run homer his first of 2022 to end the scoring. That’s all Houck (1-0) would need as he was outstanding on the hill allowing just two hits with three walks and four strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Trevor Larnach led all hitters in the game with three hits for Minnesota (3-5). Twins starter Sonny Gray (0-1) was tagged with the loss allowing two runs in 1.2 innings before leaving with an undisclosed injury.
Boston is now 4-4 and will send RHP Michael Wacha (0-0, 2.08 ERA) to the mound in game three of the series on Sunday afternoon at 1:35. Minnesota counters with RHP Bailey Ober (1-0, 7.20).
