This is going to go down as something of a lost year for Triston Casas, who missed four months due to a painful rib injury, but the second-year standout is certainly finishing on a high note.

Casas enjoyed a career afternoon in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, going 3 for 4 with three home runs and seven RBI to lead the Red Sox past the Minnesota Twins 8-1.

The 24-year-old is the first Red Sox player to hit three homers in a game since Trevor Story on May 19, 2022, and dating back to Tuesday he’s now hit four home runs in a span of 16 at bats.

Red Sox manager ejected in first inning of Sunday’s afternoon game

Casas broke the ice in the bottom of the first when Romy Gonzalez and Masataka Yoshida each singled to put two men on. The first baseman wasted no time when he came up, smoking the first pitch he saw 400 feet to the right field bleachers for a three-run shot to make it 3-0.

His next time up in the bottom of the third it was a similar story. This time it was Yoshida and Trevor Story who set the table with singles, and Casas went the other way for an opposite field bomb to the Green Monster to make it 6-0.

Minnesota got a run back in the fourth after Willi Castro scored on an error by Romy Gonzalez, but the Red Sox infielder quickly atoned for that miscue when he drove in Jarren Duran with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame.

Then, when Casas came up again to lead off the bottom of the fifth, he powered his third home run of the game just over the triangle in right center field.

That gave Casas 12 home runs in only 56 games, suggesting a 34-homer pace over a full season’s worth of action. According to the Red Sox, he’s also now hit 41 home runs through his first 215 games, tied with Nomar Garciaparra for third in franchise history behind only Tony Conigliaro (49) and Ted Williams (42).

All told Boston enjoyed its best offensive showing since last Saturday against Gerrit Cole and the Yankees. The Red Sox tagged Twins starter Pablo Lopez for seven runs on nine hits and a walk over four innings, and overall they finished with 11 hits as a team, their most since Sept. 9 against Baltimore.

Meanwhile, Nick Pivetta gave up one unearned run over five strong innings, allowing four hits and three walks with four strikeouts, and relievers Luis Garcia, Lucas Sims, Greg Weissert and Kenley Jansen combined for four scoreless innings of relief.

Game 2 of the doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 5:35 p.m.

Sox announce starters

The Red Sox announced their starting pitchers for this week’s upcoming series in Toronto. Tanner Houck will start Monday’s opener, Brayan Bello will start the second game on Tuesday and Richard Fitts will make his fourth big league start on Wednesday.