Red Sox pull away from Twins late after losing Triston Casas to leg injury

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on May 2, 2025

Published in Baseball

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BOSTON — The Red Sox pulled away late to beat the Minnesota Twins 6-1 in Friday night’s series opener, with Rafael Devers delivering the go-ahead two-run single in the seventh after Brayan Bello went toe-to-toe with Twins starter Joe Ryan in a hard fought pitchers duel.

But the joy of the win was tempered given the much larger loss the Red Sox may have sustained.

Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas was removed from the game in the bottom of the second inning after suffering what appeared to be a serious leg injury on a close play at first base. Casas was attempting to beat out a throw from Ryan on a short chopper in front of the mound, and upon reaching the base he slipped as he stepped on the bag and fell hard to the ground.

Casas remained on his back for several minutes as he was attended by the trainer and was eventually carted off the field on a stretcher. He was subsequently replaced in the game by Romy Gonzalez.

The Red Sox did not provide any additional updates on Casas’ injury or its severity during the game.

Another major injury would be a huge setback for Casas, who missed a significant portion of last season due to a torn cartilage in his ribcage. So far this season Casas had gotten off to a tough start, batting .184 with three home runs and 11 RBI entering Friday, but he’d begun showing signs of a turnaround, batting .278 with a 1.069 OPS over his previous six games.

At the time of Casas’ injury the Red Sox already led 1-0 thanks to a home run by Alex Bregman in the bottom of the first, his eighth of the season. The Twins tied the score at 1-1 on a Ryan Jeffers leadoff home run in the third, but after that Bello and Ryan were in full control, holding the other team’s lineups at bay all the way into the seventh inning.

Ryan finished with one run allowed over six innings, with four hits, one walk and eight strikeouts, while Bello gave up one run over 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and one walk with five strikeouts.

It was the sixth consecutive quality start by the Red Sox starting rotation, the club’s longest streak since Aug. 4-13, 2017.

After stranding two men in the sixth, the Red Sox finally broke through in the seventh against Minnesota’s bullpen. Connor Wong and David Hamilton reached on a pair of singles, Ceddanne Rafaela advanced the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, and after Jarren Duran struck out, Devers came through with a ground-ball to right that had just enough to get through for a two-run single.

Boston scored three more runs in the eighth on a pair of RBI doubles by Gonzalez and Hamilton and an RBI single by Duran. Devers (3 for 5, two RBI) appeared to drive in a fourth, but upon review Duran was ruled out on a close play at the plate.

Liam Hendriks came on in the ninth and locked things down, helping Boston (18-16) snap its two-game losing streak. The club now awaits news on Casas, but whether the word is good or bad, the club will look to make it two in a row on Saturday.

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