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Victor Caratini and Ryan Jeffers each homered and drove in three runs on Monday and the Minnesota Twins knocked out Boston starter Garrett Crochet in the second inning en route to a 13-6 victory.

Jeffers had three of the Twins' 11 hits, while Ryan Kreidler and Byron Buxton also homered. Minnesota has won seven of its last eight games.

Bailey Ober (2-0) allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out seven in six innings.

Jarren Duran homered and Caleb Durbin had two hits and scored two runs for Boston.

 with four runs in the first inning, then knocked out Boston's ace lefty with a seven-run second. Crochet (2-2) allowed 11 runs — 10 earned — on nine hits and three walks in 1 2/3 innings, the shortest start of his career.

The big blows in the second came from two new faces hitting their first home runs with the Twins. Caratini hit a three-run blast off the facing of the third deck in left field. Then Kreidler, a light-hitting utility infielder with two career home runs, sent Crochet's last pitch into the second deck in left for a solo homer.

The Twins posted a 13-23 record against left-handed starters last year. But in the last seven days, they have beaten Detroit's Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez, Toronto's Eric Lauer and now Crochet. In those four outings, the Twins scored 29 earned runs in 16 2/3 innings pitched by the starters.

Buxton's solo homer in the fifth was the 85th of his career at Target Field, moving past Max Kepler to become the all-time leader at the Twins' ballpark.

Twins hammer Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet for 11 runs and 9 hits in 1 2/3 innings

Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet was battered by the Minnesota Twins for 11 runs — 10 earned — and nine hits in 1 2/3 innings Monday night.

Crochet, a two-time All-Star who finished second in AL Cy Young Award voting last season, became the first Red Sox pitcher to allow 10 runs in less than two innings.

“My command, as a whole, has been spotty," Crochet said following 

 “I've gotten away with it a little this early in the year, but tonight they made me pay. It was weak contact, hard contact, walks, hit by pitch — a little bit of everything."

The 26-year-old left-hander gave up four runs, three earned, in a 31-pitch first inning. Minnesota scored seven more in the second before Crochet was removed with two outs and Boston trailing 11-0.

“I don’t really have one thing to point to,” Crochet said. “I feel like I had a good approach. It was all pitch types that I felt like they were absolutely smothering."

Victor Caratini hit his first home run for the Twins in the second, a three-run drive off the facing of the third deck in left field. Light-hitting infielder Ryan Kreidler ended Crochet's night with his third career home run, a solo shot into the second deck in left.

“As a manager, it’s hard to watch. It was kind of like, OK, when are we going to take him out, you know?” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “At the same time, you still have to cover innings and keep the bullpen quote-unquote fresh, knowing that there’s two more games in the series.”

Crochet walked three, hit a batter with a pitch and failed to record a strikeout for the first time in 68 career starts. His season ERA climbed to 7.58 after he entered 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA through three starts.

“I'm just going to flush it as best I can and move on to the next one,” Crochet said. “They had a good approach.”

Twins RHP Mick Abel (0-2, 6.08 ERA) will face Boston RHP Sonny Gray (2-0, 2.76) in the second game of the series on Tuesday.

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Victor Caratini and Ryan Jeffers each homered and drove in three runs and the Minnesota Twins knocked out Boston’s Garrett Crochet in the second inning en route to a 13-6 victory. 

Caratini, Jeffers hit 2 of Minnesota's 4 homers in a 13-6 win over Red Sox

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