Through their first 18 games of September, the Red Sox had only scored more than seven runs once.

In Sunday’s split doubleheader with the Minnesota Twins, they did so twice and came away with two wins.

After winning the afternoon game – originally the series finale before Saturday evening’s game had to be postponed to Sunday at 5:35 p.m. – by a comfortable margin of 8-1, thanks to three home runs and seven RBI from Triston Casas, the Red Sox overcame a 2-0 deficit to win the second game 9-3.

Facing rookie Zebby Matthews, who’d allowed at least one earned run in each of his first seven Major League starts (and given up a homer in six of them), the Boston bats went quickly in innings 1-4, leaving two men on base in the second and one in the fourth.

So when Kutter Crawford faltered in the top of the fifth, it portended calamity. After meticulous work through the first four frames, the Red Sox right-hander gave up four consecutive two-out singles in the fifth for a 2-0 Twins lead. His pitch count, which sat at 44 entering the inning, jumped up to 71 by its end.

But in the bottom of the fifth, it was Boston’s turn to have some fun with two outs. Ceddanne Rafaela doubled, knocking Matthews out of the game. Cole Irvin took over and immediately reminded the Twins why they’d been able to claim him off waivers from the Orioles earlier in the week. He walked Jarren Duran on four straight pitches, setting the stage for Romy Gonzalez to come up clutch.

“He’s very patient,” manager Alex Cora said of Duran. “The headline will be the homer but the at-bat was the walk.”

On a 2-1 count, Gonzalez sent the baseball soaring high and deep into the inky black sky. It peaked up by the glowing orbs of the light tower on the center-field side of the Green Monster before landing safely among the fans.

“Very similar to Ref,” Cora said of Gonzalez’s teammate, Rob Refsnyder. “A few years ago, he comes in in a situation that we need a right-handed hitter, took the baton, and he’s running the race.”

Irvin promptly issued a walk to Masataka Yoshida before finally bringing the inning to an end. But Gonzalez’s majestic blast had put the Red Sox up 3-2.

Crawford responded with a five-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth.

“Romy stepped on that ball,” Crawford said. “That’s kind of what the offense was waiting for all game.”

Boston’s half of the sixth was the polar opposite. Ten batters came to the plate. Together, they collected six runs on five hits, giving the Red Sox a significantly more comfortable 9-2 advantage.

After Casas led off with a flyout to right that would’ve been a home run in 24 ballparks, Nick Sogard unlocked a new career achievement. After doubling in the second inning for Boston’s first hit of the game, the rookie infielder doubled again, making it his first career game with multiple extra-base hits. Wilyer Abreu joined him on the bases thanks to a painful-looking hit-by-pitch, prompting the Twins to swap Cole Irvin for Cole Sands.

Enmanuel Valdez greeted Sands with a high chopper that had Carlos loaded them up with a high chopper that had Carlos Correa scrambling into the infield.

For weeks, the Red Sox and Houston Astros have stood alone as the only teams without a grand slam this season. That didn’t change in the bottom of the sixth, but Boston found other ways to score. They forced in a run when Ceddanne Rafaela became the second hit-batsman of the inning. Duran’s double plated another two, and Gonzalez’s sac-fly added another. After a pitching change, Yoshida’s RBI single plated the ninth and final run before Casas made the last out.

Crawford’s fifth inning turned out to be a blip in the radar of an otherwise excellent outing that was one of the best Red Sox pitching performances of the season and a career night for him. Already this season, the righty had blown past his previous career-highs in starts and innings, and completed his first seven-inning start (and then repeated it twice). He entered Sunday tied for second-most starts in the American League.

On Sunday night, Crawford achieved another first: he’d taken the mound for an eighth inning once before, but hadn’t recorded an out. This time, he recorded two, making his 32nd start of the season the longest of his entire professional career.

With the bases loaded on a trio of singles, Cora came out to get him. As Crawford walked back to the dugout, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. He responded by tipping his cap, another first.

“I got some (expletive) earlier in the year when I went seven scoreless against the Royals,” Crawford explained. “Some buddies, they were like, ‘Cmon man, you got to do something,’ so I thought I’d make up for it now.”

Over 7 2/3 innings, he held the Twins to three earned runs on eight hits, hit one batter, struck out seven, withheld walks.

“The strike-throwing ability, it’s amazing,” Cora lauded. “Overall, what a season, and he’s going to keep getting better.”

Josh Winckowski took over and walked his first batter, Willi Castro, on 11 pitches to force in a run (the third and final one charged to Crawford) before getting veteran slugger Carlos Santana to fly out to deep center to leave the diamond loaded.

Winckowski pitched the ninth, too, and kept the Twins from scoring again.

The Red Sox are back at .500, maintaining their tie with the Tampa Bay Rays for third in the AL East. At 78-78, they’ve officially matched last year’s win total.

With three games coming up in Toronto and one last weekend at home hosting the Rays, a winning season is within reach.