Sale and Dalbec lead Red Sox to 12-2 rout of Twins

BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox ace Chris Sale joined Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax as the only pitchers on record with three immaculate innings, Bobby Dalbec homered twice and Boston beat the Minnesota Twins 12-2 on Thursday night.

Dalbec drove in seven runs and Rafael Devers hit his 30th homer, a two-run shot during a five-run sixth that helped the Red Sox put away the Twins and seal Sale’s third victory in as many starts since his return from Tommy John surgery.

Sale (3-0) pitched 5 1-3 innings, striking out eight and allowing two runs on two hits. Willians Astudillo’s two-run homer in the fifth accounted for the only runs the Twins managed off Sale.

Astudillo ended up pitching, too, moving over from third base to start the bottom of the eighth and giving the Twins’ actual relievers a breather on a hot night with a flight home still to go.

Dalbec’s three-run homer in the second off of John Gant (4-8) gave Sale some early cushion and started an offensive outburst for the struggling Red Sox.

The Red Sox hit multiple homers for the fourth straight game, but the highlight of the night was Sale’s nine-pitch third inning. Sale, whose first immaculate inning came against Baltimore on May 8, 2019. He did it again the following month against Kansas City, then joined Koufax in the third inning Thursday when he struck out Nick Gordon, Andrelton Simmons and Rob Refsnyder on three pitches each. Refsnyder was fooled badly by a slider in the dirt on the final pitch of the inning.

Koufax completed his immaculate innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers between 1962-64.

BOBBY D!

Dalbec’s first homer reached the second row of seats atop the Green Monster in left field and put Boston up 3-0. His second came on a line drive in the seventh that just cleared the yellow line on top of the 37-foot wall...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Sale-and-Dalbec-lead-Red-Sox-to-12-2-rout-of-Twins-16415316.php