Yankees Rivalry Roundup: Kenta Maeda hurt in Red Sox romp

The Yankees’ victorious series finale over the Angels was one of only seven MLB matchups yesterday. The Astros, Rays, Blue Jays, Guardians, and Orioles were among the many teams off, so we’ll check in on the only other game yesterday that featured American League teams.

Boston Red Sox (10-10) 11, Minnesota Twins (11-8) 5

Thursday was simply not Kenta Maeda’s day. He got the start at Fenway Park and immediately gave up a leadoff homer to Alex Verdugo. An inning later, the recent Tommy John recoveree took a Jarren Duran liner off his foot. Somewhat miraculously, he recovered to make the play at first, but he was writhing on the ground right after the adrenaline wore off:

That brought an early end to Maeda’s afternoon. He was diagnosed with a left ankle contusion, though X-rays at least showed “no breaks.”

Maeda’s injury ended up compounding problems for the Twins, as reliever Emilio Pagán brought no such relief. Rafael Devers plated Boston’s second run on an RBI double with one out in the third, and he touched home when Masataka Yoshida singled him in. Boston then loaded the bases on two more hits, and Connor Wong brought another two runs in with a single. Duran followed with a booming double off the left-center field to make it a 7-0 rout.

From there, it was pretty smooth sailing for Boston, as all Tanner Houck had to do on the mound for the hometown team was not fall apart. Willi Castro got him in the seventh for his first long ball of the season, but thanks to a two-run shot from Yu Chang off Jorge Alcala in the previous frame, it hardly mattered. Houck finished his day with seven innings of three-run ball with seven strikeouts.

It was extremely unlikely that the Twins would come back from a big deficit in the ninth, but as if the baseball gods decided to poke them in the eye one more time, Max Kepler was caught off third for the final out when the bases would’ve otherwise been loaded.

Oof. Anyway, the Red Sox are back at .500 and hanging in there.

The Twins return home tomorrow to face the cellar-dwelling Nationals before welcoming the Yankees for three early next week at Target Field. The Red Sox will be on their way to the Midwest too, as they face the Brewers this weekend in Milwaukee. Here’s what the other idle teams will be up to:

• Blue Jays: In town to face the Yankees
• Rays: vs. White Sox in Tampa Bay
• Orioles: vs. Tigers in Baltimore
• Guardians: vs. Marlins in Cleveland
• Astros: vs. Braves in Atlanta
• Mariners: vs. Cardinals in Seattle