The wheels fell off when Kenta Maeda left Thursday's game at Fenway Park with an injury and Emilio Pagan took over and immediately allowed six runs on seven hits in the third inning as the Boston Red Sox thumped the Minnesota Twins 11-5.
It's the fourth loss in five games for the Twins, who had boosted their record to 10-4 after back-to-back wins at Yankee Stadium only to lose two straight to New York and then two of three in Boston, putting them at 11-8 overall.
Maeda, who is undergoing further evaluation after being hit in the left ankle by a 111 mph line drive, left the game after the final out of the second inning. Pagan came in and the Red Sox pelted him with five singles and two doubles, turning a 1-0 lead into a 7-0 cushion in the third inning.
Prior to Thursday's outing, Pagan had a 1.42 ERA in 6.1 innings this season. But the Boston beatdown was a reminder of Pagan's struggles last season when he allowed at least two runs in nine of his 59 appearances, including a very bad June when he posted an 11.42 ERA.
Boston jumped on Maeda when Alex Verdugo launched a leadoff homer in the first inning. After Pagan's tumble in the third, the Red Sox scored three times in the fifth off Twins right-hander Jorge Alcala, highlighted by Yu Chang's two-run homer.
The Twins' four runs were peppered throughout the game on a ground-rule double by Max Kepler, two-run homer from Willi Castro and an RBI singles from Christian Vazquez and Edouard Julien.
Minnesota will fly back to the Twin Cities and open a 10-game homestand starting Friday against the Nationals, followed by the Yankees and Royals coming to Target Field.
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