German_Force » with a 2.01 ERA over his last five turns

Eduardo Escobar Taven Bryan Youth Jersey , yet again, gave the Minnesota Twins the go-ahead hit.

Two of them, of course. He’s become a doubles machine.

With a two-base hit that drove in two runs off Chris Sale in the sixth inning and another that launched a four-run eighth, Escobar led for the Twins to a 6-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.

”I don’t know if he can keep up that kind of torrid pace, but we’re seeing a guy who is supremely confident,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said.

Robby Scott (0-1), just recalled from Triple-A, relieved Sale to start the eighth and walked the first two batters. Joe Kelly entered, and Escobar’s one-out line drive bounced in front of Jackie Bradley Jr. and skipped past the center fielder as two runs scored. The official scorer later changed his ruling from a single to a double, giving Escobar a majors-leading 32 for the season. Robbie Grossman broke the game open with a two-run triple.

Escobar is on a season-long pace for 75 doubles, which would blow by Earl Webb’s record of 67 doubles in 1931 for the Red Sox.

”Let me tell you: If they don’t catch the ball I’m going to run to second base, 100 percent,” Escobar said. ”My mentality when I make contact with the ball is to run all the way to second base.”

Escobar, who will be a free agent in the fall, has for the fourth straight season been slated for a utility role only to hit his way into regular duty after a setback in the infield. This year, injury and ineffectiveness for third baseman Miguel Sano paved Escobar’s way into the everyday lineup.

”If he doesn’t have a double a day, it’s like a disappointment right now. He’s unbelievable. He always finds a barrel,” said teammate Trevor Hildenberger, who struck out American League RBI leader J.D. Martinez with runners at second and third to end the seventh after relieving Jose Berrios.

The Red Sox went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.

”Whenever you have a chance Youth Arden Key Jersey , you have to catch him,” Boston manager Alex Cora said.

MOUND MASTERY

The late surge masked a classic pitching duel between Sale and Berrios, the six-time All-Star against the budding ace. Sale retired the first 14 batters he faced before Ehire Adrianza’s soft roller to Rafael Devers at third base went for an infield single.

With a two-out home run by Devers in the sixth off Berrios, the Red Sox were in control. All it took was a single by Ryan LaMarre and a hit by pitch for Joe Mauer, though, to start a rally in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Escobar drove a 1-1 slider near the dirt from Sale down the left-field line for a 2-1 lead. Escobar pumped his arms back and forth before clapping and pointing at his teammates in the dugout.

”You know this guy. Every pitch is nasty,” said Escobar, once a minor league teammate of Sale’s in the Chicago White Sox system. ”I guess I made good contact.”

Sale finished seven innings, the 12th time in 16 starts this season he has logged at least six. This was the 11th turn in which he’s yielded two runs or fewer and his fifth double-digit strikeout performance. In his last three starts, he has allowed only 11 hits in 21 innings. Yet the Red Sox are only 8-8 with him on the mound.

”I’m not going to hang my head about it. I know these guys in here want to win. I know they’re not doing anything different on my day,” Sale said. ”Maybe I’ll bring popsicles or something for the boys.”

REED RELIEF

Struggling Twins right-hander Addison Reed, who has appeared in only one of the previous six games, has been at least temporarily removed from his setup role. Zach Duke (3-2) took the eighth inning instead and, with two outs, surrendered Sandy Leon’s tying single that drove in Devers.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia, who has played in only three games this season because of inflammation in his left knee, has still not been cleared for baseball activities since returning to the DL three weeks ago. The lack of progress has been concerning, Cora acknowledged. ”It was major surgery. We didn’t know what to expect. So we are where we are now James Washington Jersey Elite , hoping that, yeah, he’ll be back. When? We don’t know,” Cora said.

Twins: RHP Ervin Santana, yet to appear this season because of a slow recovery from surgery on his middle finger, threw a 35-pitch bullpen session before the game. He’ll face live hitters on Friday, another step forward after his setback last month.

UP NEXT

Red Sox: LHP David Price (8-4, 3.76 ERA) pitches Wednesday night. He is 6-0 in his last seven starts, with two runs or fewer allowed in all but one of those, when he gave up three runs. Price is 10-3 with a 2.52 ERA in his career against the Twins.

Twins: RHP Lance Lynn (4-5, 4.98 ERA) takes the mound in the middle game of the series. He’s 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA over his last five turns, with a .195 batting average against him and 30 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings.

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鈥?An iron collar that kept slaves in bondage. A branding iron that marked human beings as someone’s property. A photograph of black babies captioned as “alligator bait.” A fine china plate with gold lettering that says, “KKK ‘God Give Us Men.'”They’re among the artifacts of slavery and segregation collected by NFL Hall of Famer and retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page and his wife, Diane Sims Page. They went on display this month in time for Super Bowl visitors and the thousands of other people expected to flock to downtown Minneapolis for the festivities. The exhibit, “TESTIFY: Americana from Slavery to Today,” runs through Feb. 6 at the Minneapolis Central Library.While a sign at the entrance warns that some items inside might be disturbing, there are also messages of hope and promise. There’s a banner that was held by a mourner in 1865, when a funeral train took President Abraham Lincoln’s body home to Illinois. The banner reads, “Our Country Shall Be One Country!” Page said it moved him to tears when he first saw it.“For me it transports me back to that time and that place Youth Mark Walton Jersey ,” Alan Page said.Signs that once enforced segregation in the South hang from a wall down the center of the gallery. They designated restrooms as “white” or “colored,” and marked the “colored waiting room” at train and bus stations. Just across from it is an assembly of vibrant pictures by black artists, showing how African-Americans reclaimed control over their own narrative. Diane Page said the contrast between the “oppressive and expressive” is deliberate.Alan Page, a feared member of the Vikings’ Purple People Eaters defensive line in the 1970s, played in all four of their Super Bowl appearances. He’s one of only two defensive players ever voted the NFL MVP. He also became the first black justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court, serving 22 years until he hit the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 2015.The Pages timed the exhibit to coincide with the Super Bowl on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis, but he noted that it also comes “at this time when white supremacy is raising its ugly head” in ways that he thought he would never see again.“We hope the exhibit will challenge people by seeing what took place in the past, and challenge them in ways that will cause them to think about taking action, not only to prevent them from happening again, but to end the effects of that past, the effects that still linger today,” he said.It’s one thing to see a picture of an artifact from that era; it’s another to actually stand in front of it, said Lois Langer Thompson, director of the Hennepin County Library system. She said the library’s location on the Nicollet Mall pedestrian zone, the site of a 10-day fan festival with free concerts and other attractions, makes it convenient for visitors to stop by and see the exhibit 鈥?and warm up.Diane Page started the collection about 30 years ago after a friend pointed out that missing amid the sleek decor and a couple of Andy Warhols on the walls of their home were any pieces of African-American art or cultural items to educate the four Page children about their heritage. Eventually, the couple would visit antique stores and work with dealers to fill their home, and his Supreme Court chambers, with artifacts from slavery and the Jim Crow era.“These items represent facts Breeland Speaks Jersey Elite ,” he said. “Not somebody’s opinion about what happened. Not somebody’s view about what did or didn’t occur, but actual facts. … They help me understand where we are today. The disparities in education, our criminal justice system. For me the message I get is that we haven’t come to grips with the discrimination that comes, that came with those facts. We haven’t addressed the present effects of that past history, the present effects of that past discrimination.”Daughter Georgi Page-Smith took the lead in assembling the more than 100 items on display in the exhibit, which includes a “testification station,” made from her father’s stand-up desk from his chambers, where visitors are invited to write their impressions in a leather-bound book.“We knew it would be very emotional,” she said. “So we wanted to create an area where people could just stop for a minute, and do a little processing, and then reflect back to us.”As part of the exhibit, Alan Page will give a talk Wednesday called “TESTIFY: It’s Not About the Flag or the Anthem, It’s About Justice.” He said the controversy over players kneeling during the national anthem misses the point.“That debate about the anthem and the flag is the reddest of red herrings. The point is that we have injustice. And the question is: what are we going to do about that? Protesting draws attention to that injustice, but it’s a tactic. It’s not a program to end injustice. And so one of the things I also hope to do is encourage those who would be inclined to protest to take the next step, and take some concrete actions beyond merely drawing attention to the problem, and being involved in steps to eliminate it.” Copyright ©2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed..