BOSTON — Byron Buxton and Austin Martin hit two-run homers off reliever Justin Slaten in the seventh inning to help the Minnesota Twins rally from four runs down to beat the Boston Red Sox 8-6 on Friday night.

Ryan Kreidler added an RBI double for the Twins. Luke Keaschall and Buxton both had RBI singles.

Travis Adams (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings to pick up the win. Anthony Banda got four outs for his first save.

Minnesota’s four-run seventh ended a streak for Slaten (1-1) of 15 consecutive appearances, dating to Sept. 16, 2025, without allowing a run. It was the third-longest active streak in the majors.

Wilyer Abreu had an RBI double. Willson Contreras, Andruw Monasterio, Marcelo Mayer and Jarren Duran all added an RBI for the Red Sox.

With Boston trailing 7-6 in the eighth, Mayer reached on a two-out error by Minnesota second baseman Keaschall. Eric Orze walked Carlos Narváez and was replaced by Banda, who got Mickey Gasper to fly out to end the threat.

Boston took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, teeing off on Twins starter Connor Prielipp, who was pulled after four innings. He allowed six runs and seven hits.

Minnesota’s comeback came after Boston starter Payton Tolle, who went six innings, allowed three runs and four hits while striking out nine.

Abreu started the Red Sox off in the first with an RBI double. Contreras then got his 1,000th career hit and 13th career triple, scoring Abreu.

Monasterio made 3-0 with an RBI single. He advanced to third on Nick Sogard’s single, then scored on Mayer’s sacrifice fly to center.

But the Twins had four hits and took advantage of a fielding error by Tolle to get three runs in the second inning.

Boston added two runs in the fourth when Sogard scored on a throwing error by Prielipp and Narváez crossed the plate on Duran’s RBI groundout to make it 6-3.

Up next

The Twins haven’t announced a starting pitcher for the second game of the series Saturday. Boston manager Chad Tracy said Brayan Bello (2-5, 7.16 ERA) is expected to throw bulk innings as possibly the starter or following an opener.