Kepler powers Twins to 17-inning win over Red Sox

Max Kepler singled with the bases loaded in the 17th inning to give the Minnesota Twins their first walk-off win of the season, 4-3 over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night in Minneapolis. Kepler, who finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs, including a game-tying homer in the 13th inning, drove in Luis Arraez in the 17th.

Arraez singled with one out off Brian Johnson (1-1) and the advanced to third on Eddie Rosario's third double of the game. C.J. Cron was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Mookie Betts was brought in as a fifth infielder. Kepler then lined his game-winner down the right field line to end the longest game in Target Field history in terms of innings. Rosario finished 4-for-8 for Minnesota, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Zack Littell (1-0), the ninth pitcher for the Twins, picked up his first major league victory by pitching two shutout innings.

Rafael Devers went 3-for-8 with a homer and two RBIs, and Andrew Benintendi and Brock Holt also had three hits for Boston, which had its season-high six-game winning streak snapped. Betts, who finished 1-for-6 with two runs, gave Boston a 3-2 lead when he led off the 13th inning with a 12th home run of the season midway up the left field foul pole. But Kepler tied it while leading off the bottom half when he lined a Hector Velazquez fastball 391 feet into the upper deck in right-centre.

Boston took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Betts led off with a walk, stole second and then scored two outs later on a single by Devers. Minnesota, shut out for the first time since April 30 in a 2-0 loss in the series opener on Monday night, tied it in the bottom of the fourth. Rosario doubled with two outs and scored on a single to right-centre by Cron.

The Red Sox regained the lead in the seventh when Devers led off with his 12th home run of the season off reliever Ryne Harper, a 374-foot drive into the right-field bleachers. The Twins tied it, 2-2, in the eighth against reliever Brandon Workman on a two-out RBI single by Kepler, driving in Mitch Garver, who led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Minnesota shortstop Jorge Polanco singled leading off the bottom of the first to extend his consecutive on-base streak to 32 games, the longest in the majors this season. However, Polanco finished the night 1-for-8.