MINNEAPOLIS — Trevor Story homered and drove in five runs Wednesday to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Minnesota Twins, 9-5.

Connelly Early (1-0) gave up one run, two hits and two walks with five strikeouts over six innings, the longest of his eight major league starts.

Andruw Monasterio had three of Boston’s 13 hits. Ceddanne Rafaela, batting second in the order for the just the second time in his major league career, went 1 for 3 with a walk.

Simeon Woods Richardson (0-3) gave up seven runs — six earned — 10 hits and three walks in five innings.

Austin Martin had two hits for Minnesota, including a home run. Ryan Kreidler hit a three-run homer in the ninth for the Twins, who lost for just the second time in 10 games.

Martin homered in the first, but Boston scored five in the third and two each in the fifth and sixth to take a 9-1 lead.

Boston capitalized on a double error in the third by second baseman Luke Keaschall, who fielded Masataka Yoshida’s RBI grounder, dropped the ball as he tried to throw to second and then threw the ball past first baseman Josh Bell, allowing a second run to score.

Story followed on the next pitch with his second home run of the season, a three-run drive. He added a two-run double in the sixth off Anthony Banda.

Up next

Red Sox: Left-hander Ranger Suarez (1-1, 5.-2 ERA) starts Friday’s series opener at home against Detroit.

Twins: Right-hander Joe Ryan (2-1, 3.80) starts Friday against visiting Cincinnati and left-hander Brandon Williamson (1-1, 5.28).

Twins, MLB probe Duran incident

The Minnesota Twins and Major League Baseball are investigating Jarren Duran’s allegation that a fan he pointed his middle finger at during Tuesday’s game had told the Boston Red Sox outfielder to kill himself.

Duran made the gesture as he returned to the dugout after a fifth-inning groundout in Boston’s 6-0 loss at Target Field.

“We were made aware of the situation late last night and are looking into it,” Twins senior vice president of communications and public affairs Dustin Morse said. “There’s no place in our game for conduct like that.”’

MLB confirmed its own investigation, per standard practice of reviewing the conduct of both the player and the fan before determining any potential discipline.

“Somebody just told me to kill myself. I’m used to it at this point, you know?” Duran said after the game, adding that he “shouldn’t react like that, but that kind of stuff is still kind of triggering.”

Duran discussed bouts of severe depression and a suicide attempt in a Netflix documentary series that debuted last year.

“Honestly, it’s my fault for talking about my mental health because I kind of brought in the haters. So I’ve just got to get used to it,” Duran said. “I was just trying to hold it in and not really bring that up to the team. I mean, we’re trying to win a game. I shouldn’t even bring that up to anybody. … It just happens.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after the game he hadn’t witnessed the confrontation or reviewed video of it, but shared his thoughts before Wednesday’s game.

“I know the Twins are all over the case and trying to find out who he was, and hopefully they find the person,” Cora said, adding that if found, “it’s probably the last big-league game that that person is going to attend.”

“We have Jarren’s back. Like I said last year, for him to open up, he saved lives,” Cora added. “And it’s not easy. It’s not easy because, like he said, we’re in the business of winning games, and he doesn’t want to be a distraction. And he’s not a distraction. He’s not. He’s just a player that plays for the Red Sox and has our full support.”