Twins 8, Red Sox 6: Buxton and Martin Homer in the Seventh to Complete Fenway Rally

The lead

May 22, 2026 - Boston - Byron Buxton and Austin Martin both hit two-run homers off reliever Justin Slaten in the seventh inning to help the Minnesota Twins rally from four runs down and beat the Boston Red Sox 8-6 on Friday night, per the Associated Press recap on CBS Sports.

It was the kind of road win Minnesota needed to open a 10-game trip—down 4-0 after one, within one run after two, then ahead for good after back-to-back long balls over the Green Monster.

How the game turned

Boston's four-run first included Wilyer Abreu's RBI double, Willson Contreras' triple for his 1,000th career hit, and Marcelo Mayer's sacrifice fly off Connor Prielipp. The Twins answered with three in the second on Ryan Kreidler's RBI double, Luke Keaschall's single, and Buxton's RBI knock off Payton Tolle, who struck out nine over six innings.

Boston pushed the lead to 6-3 on a Prielipp throwing error and Jarren Duran's RBI groundout in the fourth. With one out in the seventh, Buxton ended a nine-pitch battle with a two-run homer—his 16th of the season—to cut the deficit to 6-5. Brooks Lee walked, and Martin—0-for-17 entering the at-bat—drilled a go-ahead two-run shot into the Monster Seats.

Pitching and matchup notes

Travis Adams (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Anthony Banda recorded four outs for his first save, escaping an eighth-inning jam after Eric Orze walked Carlos Narváez with two outs.

Prielipp allowed six runs on seven hits in four innings; Slaten (0-2) absorbed the seventh-inning damage. Minnesota's bullpen threw five scoreless frames after the fourth.

AthX Engine graded the Twins at 13 team FP with Martin at 8 hitting FP and Buxton contributing across singles and the long ball.

Bats that changed the board

Buxton told Martin how to handle Slaten during the seventh-inning at-bat, Martin said postgame—then Martin snapped his slump with the biggest swing of his season. Kreidler and Keaschall set the table earlier; Trevor Larnach added an RBI walk in the ninth for insurance.

AthX Engine fantasy angle

Comeback wins at Fenway still grade through AthX Engine as 13 team FP when the middle of the order delivers in one inning—without needing a 35 FP pitching line. Daily scoring is not share-price movement; see dynamic pricing.

What comes next

The Twins improved to 24-27 and won for the eighth time in 12 games. Boston's Brayan Bello was listed for bulk innings Saturday, per AP's probables.

*Sources: MLB.com schedule, MLB gameday wrap, CBS Sports recap, MLB.com Twins story, AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*