BOSTON — Nathan Eovaldi is ready to be back in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. He knows he’ll have the fans on his side in Fenway Park, too, especially after his debut with Boston.
Eovaldi pitched seven impressive innings, J.D. Martinez drove in all three runs to increase his major league-leading RBI total to 89 and the Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 3-0 on Sunday for their 18th victory in 22 games.
“What a great way to start his career with the Red Sox,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “People can now talk about how good he is and how he’s going to help us out.”
Acquired in trade from Tampa Bay for a minor league pitcher on Wednesday, Eovaldi (4-4) gave up four hits, striking out five without issuing a walk. Matt Barnes pitched the eighth and Craig Kimbrel got the final three outs for his 33rd save.
Eovaldi was sharp from the start, relying on a 95-97 mph fast ball with a slider and curve. The 28-year-old righty was hammered two starts ago by the Twins, giving up eight runs and nine hits in 2 2/3 innings.
“I feel like my emotions were under control,” he said. “I try not to put any extra pressure on myself. It was nice pitching with the crowd behind me today instead of against me.”
Eovaldi was with New York for two seasons before signing with the Rays prior to 2017. He missed that year following Tommy John surgery.
His next start will be part of a four-game series against the longtime rivals next week.
“Extremely efficient. I mean, I wish we would’ve seen the Eovaldi we saw a couple weeks ago before the break,” said Twins bench coach Derek Shelton, who was running the team with manager and Hall of Famer Paul Molitor in Cooperstown, N.Y. for induction ceremonies.
Martinez had a double, single and walk, and Andrew Benintendi added two hits and a walk for the Red Sox. The AL East-leaders improved to a majors’ best 74-33 by winning three of four in the weekend series.
The Twins finished 4-6 on a 10-game trip that saw them give up a bit on making the playoffs after they traded two players Friday night.
Jose Berrios (10-8) was in trouble every inning, giving up three runs on nine hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 4 2/3 in his first career start in Fenway.
“I couldn’t locate my pitches early on, but my mentality was to keep attacking the hitters,” he said.
Martinez’s RBI double made it 2-0 in the second. In the fourth, Benintendi doubled off the Green Monster and Martinez followed with a hard single halfway up the left-field wall.
SAD NEWS: Cora was visibly upset at the end of his postgame press conference, talking about the death of University of Miami pitching coach J.D. Arteaga’s son, Ari. The Miami Herald reported the 16-year-old was killed in a single-car crash Saturday night.
“Today was a tough day for us as a family,” he said. “J.D., he’s my best friend. They adopted me, basically, when I went to Miami. … It puts everything in perspective. We get caught up in this madness, the pennant race, the AL East, the Red Sox and the Yankees, but in the end, it’s just baseball.”
GOTTA SEE IT: Red Sox CF Jackie Bradley Jr., running at full speed, made a backhanded catch on Bobby Wilson’s liner into the left-center gap. After the catch, he tumbled over at the edge of the warning track and slid on his back hard into the left-field wall.
He got a standing ovation and when he headed to the dugout at the end of the inning, his teammates were lined up waiting to give him ‘High 5s.’
“Once I got closer, I thought I had a pretty good chance,” he said. “I hit (the wall) a lot harder than I thought I did after looking at the replay. I’m sure I’ll have a few bumps and bruises.”
LOOK WHERE I’M PLAYING: Back-up catcher and infielder Blake Swihart made his first career start at third. He even started a nifty DP in the fourth, snagging a hard grounder as he went to his knees, got up and turned the 5-4-3 play.
FUN UNDER THE SUN: The Red Sox improved to a majors’ best 26-5 in day games, and they’ve won 20 of their last 22.
UP NEXT: Twins: RHP Ervin Santana (0-0, 5.40 ERA) makes his second start of the season after returning from surgery on the middle finger of his pitching hand in February as Minnesota opens a three-game series Monday at home against AL Central-leading Cleveland.
Red Sox: LHP David Price (11-6, 4.17) is set to start Monday’s opener of a two-game interleague series at Fenway, facing Phillies’ righty Aaron Nola (12-3, 2.42). Price went a scoreless inning in his last start Wednesday in Baltimore before the game was rained out.
DEVERS ON DL: The Boston Red Sox placed third baseman Rafael Devers on the 10-day disabled list before Sunday’s series finale against Minnesota with a strained left hamstring he sustained a night earlier running the bases.
To take his place on the roster, the club recalled infielder Tzu-Wei Lin from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Devers limped running into third base on Eduardo Nunez’s double in the eighth inning of Boston’s 10-4 victory on Saturday night.
He said he felt something on his bunt single in the first inning, but didn’t think it was anything to worry about.
“When I bunted, I felt a little discomfort and didn’t feel like I pulled anything,” he said Sunday morning.
Devers is batting .245 with 15 homers and 52 RBIs. It’s Lin’s fourth stint with the Red Sox. He’s batted .182 (8 for 44) in 19 games.
SATURDAY’S GAME: J.D. Martinez hit his major league-leading 32nd homer, Mookie Betts had two RBI doubles and the Red Sox beat the Twins 10-4 on Saturday night.
Betts raised his MLB-leading average to .346 and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a two-run triple for the Red Sox.
“We’ve been seeing it for a while this year. It’s easy to start taking it for granted,” winning pitcher Rick Porcello said. “It’s pretty incredible what everybody’s doing top to bottom.”
The Red Sox entered the night leading the majors with 5.3 runs per game and after two nights where they were held down, they took charge in the middle innings.
“I think we all just enjoy winning,” Bradley said. “Winning’s fun, losing’s not.”
Logan Morrison hit a solo homer for the Twins, a night after they appeared to throw in the towel a bit in pursuit of a playoff spot following a pair of trades that sent away infielder Eduardo Escobar and reliever Ryan Pressly.
Porcello (13-4) labored through 5 2/3 innings on a steamy night, giving up four runs on five hits, striking out five and walking one. Jake Odorizzi (4-7) gave up five runs on nine hits in five innings.
“They’re 40 games over .500 for a reason,” Odorizzi said. “A good, quality team, especially here.”
Trailing 4-1, Boston scored three times in the fourth and moved ahead on Martinez’s shot that left Fenway Park over the Green Monster seats in the fifth.
Bradley’s triple went off the center-field wall over the glove of leaping outfielder Jake Cave, and he scored on Betts’ double down the left-field line. Betts’ other double came in a four-run eighth.
The Twins had moved ahead 4-1 in the third. Jorge Polanco had a two-run triple and scored on Brian Dozier’s single.
Morrison’s homer tied it after Mitch Moreland’s RBI single pushed Boston ahead.