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RED SOX 4, TWINS 1

Chris Sale pitches Red Sox past Twins

Chris Sale improved to 10-3 (with a 2.77 ERA) in beating the Twins on Monday night.Jim Davis/Globe staff

Chris Sale came into Monday night’s start with a 4.28 earned run average against the Minnesota Twins, the highest mark against any team he has faced more than twice.

The Twins respect Sale, but he doesn’t intimidate them. Sale, for his part, understands the pitfalls of familiarity and changes up how he sequences pitches to certain hitters.

Players such as Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer, and Eduardo Escobar certainly know what Sale has. But when those pitches are coming can still be to his advantage.

“I shouldn’t say more focused, because you should be focused and on top of your game every time out,” Sale said. “But you definitely have some things that you remember. Going out there and being careful in some situations.”

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Sale walked that line masterfully, pitching into the seventh inning as the Sox beat the Twins, 4-1, before a sellout crowd of 37,172 at Fenway Park.

The Sox remain in a virtual tie for first place in the American League East, .001 percentage points behind the Yankees.

Sale (10-3) allowed one run on four hits and struck out nine with two walks. Following the lead of catcher Sandy Leon, the lefthander changed speeds effectively and used a biting slider to produce 23 swinging strikes, one off his season high.

“Another strong performance, particularly against a team he’s seen a lot of,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said.

The only run Sale allowed came in the second inning when Chris Gimenez homered over everything in left field. Gimenez lined out to center when he came up again in the fifth.

When two on and one out in the seventh inning and Gimenez coming to the plate, Farrell didn’t give Sale a chance to get out of the inning.

The manager knows his history, too. A journeyman catcher with a career .217 batting average, Gimenez was 4 for 8 with two home runs against Sale in his career.

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“He probably didn’t want to come out of that game. For some reason, certain hitters see [certain] pitchers better than others,” Farrell said. “A small number of at-bats by Gimenez. But he’s seen him well.”

Heath Hembree replaced Sale and got Gimenez to ground into a double play. Rookie Tzu-Wei Lin ably started it.

“Heater picked me up when I needed him,” Sale said. “He was really big right there.”

Sale is 10-3 and dropped his earned run average to 2.77. He leads the majors with 155 strikeouts, a pace that would give him a ridiculous 330 on the season. No pitcher has done that since Hall of Famer Randy Johnson struck out 334 in 2002.

There is likely to be some regression in the second half, which is Sale’s history. But the Red Sox record of 313 set by Pedro Martinez in 1999 is in at least some danger.

Hembree, Matt Barnes, and Craig Kimbrel (21 saves) were perfect in relief of Sale.

Twins starter Jose Berrios came into the game 4-0 with a 2.63 earned run average in four starts this month. The 23-year-old former first-round pick from Puerto Rico has been excellent since being recalled from the minors on May 13.

But the Sox took a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Mookie Betts singled and went to third on a single to center field by Dustin Pedroia. It helped that right fielder Robbie Grossman got in the way of center fielder Byron Buxton.

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Betts scored when Xander Bogaerts grounded into a double play. Mitch Moreland then homered for the third time in as many nights, lining a fastball just over the wall in left. He has 12 on the season.

Andrew Benintendi singled before Chris Young drew a walk to extend the inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit the ball hard the other way, but left fielder Eddie Rosario got back in time to reach up and make the play.

Berrios allowed a one-out single by Lin in the second inning then retired 12 in a row, five by strikeout and four on groundballs.

The Sox added to their lead in the seventh. Leon led off with a single and was able to take second when Lin grounded out. Betts followed with a single to center and Leon rumbled to third.

With Berrios at 107 pitches, the Twins went to Matt Belisle. Pedroia cracked a single into right field to drive in Leon. The Twins intentionally walked Bogaerts and called in lefthander Buddy Boshers to face Moreland

But Moreland continued to defy the notion that he is a platoon player by delivering a sacrifice fly to center field. Moreland has an .853 OPS and leads the Sox with 41 RBIs.

“Trying to go up there and keep it simple and get comfortable and right now, I’ve been able to do that a get a couple pitches to hit,” Moreland said.

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“Obviously, there’s always room to improve and stuff to work on. So I’ve got to continue to do that every day. So far, though, it’s been one of those things where maybe a few more at-bats then where I’ve been in the past, but I’ve loved it so far. It’s been a blast.”

Berrios was charged with four runs on eight hits. He had not allowed more than two runs since May 30.

Mookie Betts gestures to his teammates in the dugout after his bloop hit in the seventh inning dropped in for an RBI single. Jim Davis/Globe staff/Globe Staff

Box score: Red Sox 4, Twins 1


Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.