Twins' Brooks Lee delivers walkoff winner after 90-minute rain delay

Following a 90-minute weather delay in Minneapolis, Brooks Lee delivered a walkoff two-run single to give the Twins a 5-4 win over the Red Sox at Target Field on Monday.

At around 9:35 p.m., with 8.5 innings of play in the books, the game went into a delay with the Red Sox leading 4-3 after getting a run across on Jhoan Duran in the top of the ninth. Storms in the Twin Cities necessitated the tarp coming out and the baseball coming to a halt despite the game being so close to the finish line.

At around 11:05 p.m., play resumed. And temporary Red Sox closer Jordan Hicks didn't have it. Hicks gave up a leadoff single to DaShawn Keirsey Jr., then hit Mickey Gasper and Willi Castro with pitches to load the bases with no outs. Carlos Correa hit a sharp grounder into a forceout at home, and when Lee went down 0-2, it looked like the Twins were in danger of once again squandering a bases-loaded, no-out situation (something they did back in the fourth inning of this game).

But on the 0-2 pitch, Lee was able to go up and out of the zone and line a 99 mile-per-hour fastball from Hicks into left field, scoring Keirsey and Gasper and setting off a celebration in front of the handful of fans who stuck around to see it.

It's the third walkoff hit of the season for Lee and the eighth for the Twins, who improved to 51-55 with the win. On a day where the Twins made their first of what's expected to be several trades as sellers before the deadline, this win was a big one for their slim playoff hopes (at least for those who still believe they have any sort of chance).

The player of the game was Keirsey, who — with Byron Buxton missing a second straight game — made his first start since June 22 and just his second since May ended. Keirsey came into this game 7 for 71 with a .276 OPS. But in the third inning, he gave the Twins a 2-0 lead with his third career home run, going the other way off of Boston starter Richard Fitts. He then came up with the big single to right field off of Hicks to spark the Twins' ninth-inning rally.

In the bottom of the fourth, Matt Wallner crushed a ball to the wall in center field with runners on first and second and no outs, but lead runner Kody Clemens got a terrible read on the ball and only advanced one base. Ty France then struck out and Christian Vazquez grounded into a double play. Three batters later, Alex Bregman had given the Red Sox a 3-2 lead with a three-run shot off of Simeon Woods Richardson.

The Twins tied it at 3 on a Vazquez sacrifice fly in the sixth. The game remained tied until Duran walked the leadoff hitter in the ninth, saw a pinch runner steal second and third, and then gave up a go-ahead single to Roman Anthony. After Duran was able to limit the damage, the delay arrived.

Justin Topa, Griffin Jax, and Brock Stewart had scoreless outings out of Minnesota's bullpen. Royce Lewis, who has been hot lately, had a couple more hits.