Renfroe homers twice, Red Sox hold on to beat Twins 11-9

Associated Press/Jimmy Golen

BOSTON (AP) – Hunter Renfroe homered twice and the Red Sox held onto the lead and their wild-card chances with a 11-9 victory over the last-place Minnesota Twins.

Alex Verdugo had three hits, and Renfroe drove in five runs with his 14th career multi-homer game. Boston opened a 9-3 lead.

The Twins scored four in the seventh to cut the deficit to 9-8 before Kiké Hernández hit a two-run homer in the eighth for insurance.

Jorge Polanco hit a two-run homer for Minnesota, and Josh Donaldson added a solo shot in the ninth off closer Matt Barnes to cut Boston’s lead to 11-9.

Barnes walked the next two batters before ex-Twin Hansel Robles got three outs for his 11th save.