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Facing a run of starting pitching that included two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber La'el Collins Jersey , Carlos Carrasco, Chris Sale and David Price, the Minnesota Twins could have seen their fledgling playoff hopes fade toward another long summer.

Instead, Minnesota’s been rejuvenated by beating some of the best pitching in the American League.

Robbie Grossman and Max Kepler homered to back an effective start by Lance Lynn as the Twins beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 on Wednesday night.

Grossman led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run and Kepler added a two-run shot off Boston starter David Price (8-5). Brian Dozier added a pair of doubles to help Minnesota win for the fourth time in five games.

The Twins beat Kluber and Carrasco in taking two of three games at Cleveland before returning home and winning the first two games against the Red Sox with Sale and Price starting.

”Yeah, after the game when you acknowledge who’s on the mound,” Kepler said when asked if Minnesota can take something away from beating the recent competition. ”I feel like we go into games and we’re kind of blind to who’s on the mound and we grind together, which is awesome about this team.”

Lynn (5-5) again struggled with command, issuing five walks, but he surrendered just one unearned run and three hits in five innings.

Four relievers combined for four scoreless innings, retiring 12 of the final 13 batters, with Fernando Rodney securing his 16th save in 19 chances.

”If you can find a way to battle every at-bat Shon Coleman Jersey , wait for something to break, try to build pitch-count when you can, and if you’re holding them down as our starting pitching has been doing, you know you’ve got a chance late,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said.

The Red Sox were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and are 2 for 22 in the first two games of the series. They’ve stranded 18 baserunners in the two games and lost for the fourth time in five games.

”Pitching-wise, we’ve been great,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. ”I’ll take that. If we keep throwing the ball the way we’ve been throwing we’re going to win a lot of ballgames. We know the offense, you know how it is.”

Lynn has had an uncharacteristic wild season in his first year with the Twins. He walked at least five batters for the fifth time in 14 starts. But the veteran right-hander has limited the damage and allowed less than three runs in five of his last six starts.

”Command was really not there,” Lynn said. ”But I was able to make pitches with runners in scoring position and not give up a bunch of runs. With this offense we have, you keep them to one run, we’re going to win the games more times than not.”

Boston’s lone run scored in the second as Lynn couldn’t catch first baseman Logan Morrison’s high throw to first for the final out of the inning Marvin Jones Jr Jersey , allowing Mitch Moreland to score from second base on an error charged to Morrison.

”We’ve been through stuff like this in the past, even this year early on,” Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts said of the offense. ”The pitching has been doing great. It’s up to us now to come through.”

PAYING THE PRICE

Price was hurt by the home run but allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk. He had given up just one home run in his previous five starts and seven total in 14 starts this season coming into Wednesday.

”Not so much that he could hit it like he did, but to keep it fair, that’s pretty impressive,” Price said of Kepler’s home run.

SHOWING SIGNS

Dozier had just one extra-base hit in his previous 13 games while hitting .068. His double off the left-field wall in the eighth plated Eddie Rosario.

Kepler hit his first home run in 22 games and the fifth of his eight this season against left-handed pitching. Kepler was hitting .158 over his previous 21 games with just four RBIs.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: LHP Drew Pomeranz is getting closer to having his first throwing session since he went on the 10-day disabled list on June 5 for left biceps tendonitis. Cora said Pomeranz was dealing with soreness in his neck but has recovered.

Twins: Molitor said OF Byron Buxton’s first rehab game in Triple-A on Tuesday went well and that his left foot with the broken toe is ”in a good place and we haven’t said that for about seven weeks or so.” There is no timetable for Buxton’s return.

UP NEXT

Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello (8-3, 3.70 ERA) will start the series and road trip finale on Thursday afternoon. Porcello pitched six innings and gave up four runs in a no-decision at Seattle in his last start.

Twins: RHP Kyle Gibson (2-4, 3.27) counters for Minnesota. Gibson has allowed five total runs over his last four starts, spanning 26 2/3 innings.

Andrew Luck should be back in his old spot when the Indianapolis Colts open training camp next week.

Yes, he’ll be behind center. Yes, he’ll take some extra days off. And Demarcus Walker Jersey , no, he may not play the usual preseason rotation.

But when he’s on the field, general manager Chris Ballard expects to see the same old Luck -throwing passes without limitations for the first time in more than 18 months.

”He’s good to go,” Ballard said Friday during a media tour of the team’s new camp site at Grand Park Sports Campus in a northern Indianapolis suburb. ”Like (coach) Frank (Reich) and Andrew talked about at minicamp, we’ll try to mimic it like a regular season week. He’s going to have days off. He’s not going to throw seven days a week.”

Players were not available for interviews Friday.

Luck’s return is the best news yet for a team trying to rebound from a 4-12 season and a third consecutive year without a playoff appearance.

Luck said he played through a sore right shoulder in 2015 and eventually opted for surgery on the partially torn labrum in January 2017. He missed all of last season as he tried to rehab.

Two weeks after Luck started to throw in October, he was shut down after complaining of lingering pain. In early November, he was placed on the season-ending injured reserve list and didn’t resume throwing publicly again until last month’s three-day mandatory minicamp.

He’s spent the last five weeks working out in California.

”I haven’t been with him, but I’ve seen enough throws that I know he’s throwing the ball pretty well,” Ballard said before reflecting on his thoughts from last month’s throwing sessions. ”I thought the first day there was one ball on a swing pass, `OK, there you go Andrew Whitworth Jersey , he really let it go.’ The next day, there were four to five balls he really let go. I think that’ll be the case when you get to camp.”

The plan calls for Luck to throw about four days per week at camp – simulating his regular-season routine.

But nobody can say with certainty when, or if, the No. 1 overall pick in 2012 will regain his Pro Bowl form.

”I think we’ll get questions until he lines up and plays again, and plays high-level football again,” Ballard said. ”I can see the panic the first time he throws an interception. It’s just part of what we do. He understands it. He gets it.”

Ballard acknowledged Luck needs to take ”live reps” during camp and indicated Luck would likely see some preseason action. How much time is still to be determined, and Ballard declined to say whether Luck would play in Indy’s preseason opener, Aug. 9 at Seattle.

Luck isn’t the only player who will be watched closely.

Starting safeties Clayton Geathers and Malik Hooker are both expected to open camp on the physically unable to perform list next week. Geathers had offseason knee surgery – what Ballard described as a ”clean-up” procedure – while Hooker is rehabbing from torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee.

Left tackle Anthony Castonzo and left guard Jeremy Vujnovich also could be placed on PUP. Castonzo pulled a hamstring while working out last week. Vujnovich, who started all 16 games last season, is recovering from a pulled calf muscle.

The Colts report to camp Wednesday and will work out in Westfield through Aug. 18.

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