Bogaerts, Red Sox rout Twins 8-1

– The Red Sox jumped all over Twins starter Kyle Gibson, scoring four runs in the first inning.

Boston also got 7 1/3 strong innings from right-hander Steven Wright, who held the Twins without a run through seven innings and improved to 4-3 away from Fenway Park this season.

Bogaerts remained red hot Friday, racking up four hits, including a three-run homer, to lead Boston to an 8-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night at Target Field. He left in the eighth inning after allowing a one-out single to Joe Mauer.

Tyler Duffey showed little ability to prevent opposing batters from getting on base as he allowed 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings with six runs – all earned. He had it going in.

“That’s why you’ve got to execute”. He worked around a leadoff double in the third and three singles in the fourth; Christian Vazquez cutting down a basestealer helped in that latter frame.

With one out in the 8th inning, Farrell went out to get Wright in favor of Matt Barnes.

“He was really good”.

Team totals: 5 1/3 innings, 10 hits allowed, 0 walks, 6 earned runs and 3 strikeouts.

“He’s had an unbelievable year”. Sox 6-0. Steven Wright kept the Twins off the scoreboard until the 8th inning when he gave up RBI groundout to Grossman.

Leon, who got his first start at catcher since being summoned last weekend as an injury fill-in from Triple-A Pawtucket, is 5 for 5 since the promotion for a flawless 1.000 batting average. Both Duffey and Molitor pointed to progress, but the over-the-plate location of his fastball to Bogaerts in the fifth was a devastating mistake. Bogaerts’ seventh homer of the season landed in the bullpens in left-center field for a 3-0 lead.

“It was just one of those days where some balls could’ve gone one direction and they went another”, Duffey said.

Twins right fielder Oswaldo Arcia dropped a routine catch at the warning track in the eighth, right before the homer by Bogaerts.

With the score tied at 4-4, nobody out and Bogaerts standing at first base, David Ortiz hit what appeared to a double play ball into the second base spot. Mookie Betts hit a grounder to third baseman Trevor Plouffe, who threw to second base. But Minnesota’s Brian Dozier lost the handle on the ball and couldn’t make the throw to first for an inning-ending double play.

Pedroia had three hits for Boston, knocked in a run and also scored a run, extending his hitting streak to 16 games, the longest active streak in the majors.

Byung Ho Park struck out in all four his at-bats, three against Wright and his knuckleball and one against hard-throwing reliever Matt Barnes.

After looking at what has propelled them to this incredible offensive start, my answer is no, I don’t think they can maintain this type of offense, but they will they be one of the best offensive teams in the league throughout this whole season.

David Ortiz is 40 years old and he’s still bashing baseballs like he’s in the prime of his career even though he plans to retire following the season. Before Friday, Ortiz ranked first all-time in batting average (.435), on-base percentage (.487) and slugging percentage (.899) among visiting players with at least 35 at-bats at Target Field.