The Boston Red Sox Wednesday, June 28, 2017 * The Boston Globe Thunder (and lightning) as Red Sox pound Twins at Fenway Julian Benbow Drew Pomeranz was sitting on the dugout bench — jacket zipped, hands in his pocket — with two clean innings under his belt and a two-run cushion thanks to a long-awaited homer from Christian Vazquez when lightning struck Tuesday night. Pomeranz already had his start delayed 50 minutes thanks to pregame showers. Another storm swept though Fenway Park just as he was settling into a groove on the mound. Filling in for Sox manager John Farrell, who was serving a one-game suspension for his altercation with umpire Bill Miller earlier in the week, bench coach Gary DiSarcina had a tricky situation to manage. He started the stopwatch as soon the tarp hit the ground, then kept a close eye as Pomeranz tried to stay warm during as the break stretched later and later into the night. “He kept heat on his arm, rode the bike, played a little toss, kept his body warm,” DiSarcina said. “So it was very impressive. Usually 45 minutes and hour, it’s pretty close. You’re pushing it.” The delay lasted an hour and 16 minutes. About 90 minutes passed between Pomeranz’s last pitch. But when he got back on the mound, he was unfazed. “If I would’ve felt like I was tight or anything at all, I probably would’ve come out,” Pomeranz said. “But I felt good, so I just tried to grind it out.” He gave the Sox five strong innings, using his entire pitch mix to hold the Twins to one run on four hits and he struck out seven to push the Red Sox to a 9-2 win. Pomeranz picked up his first win since June 6, but over his last eight starts he 4-1 with a 2.86 ERA. “I don’t know if I was 100 percent ready at the start of the year,’’ Pomeranz said. “But I knew I was ready enough that I could go out there and give us a chance to win. I kind of worked my butt off that first month just to repeat my mechanics and get comfortable with everything and I think, finally, I’m breaking through with that, having a lot more consistency.” He got plenty of support from the Sox offense. Vazquez went 2 for 2 with a two-run homer, Dustin Pedroia went 3 for 3 with an RBI and two runs, and Xander Bogaerts went 2 for 4, scoring a pair of runs as the Sox cranked out double-digit hits for the 33d time this season. They moved into sole possession of first place in the AL East as the Yankees let a ninth-inning lead slip away in a 4-3 loss to the White Sox. For someone who had gone 265 at-bats without a homer, Vazquez couldn’t have run into Hector Santiago at a better time. Fresh of the disabled list, Santiago had given up more than his fair share this season. He’d been taken deep 14 times, 11 in his last 22⅔ innings before going on the DL June 7. It didn’t take long for him to get stung again. In the second inning, with a runner on first, he fed Vazquez a lifeless sinker that floated in the strike zone and Vazquez launched it 409 feet into the Monster Seats in left-center for a two-run homer. It was his first homer since May 1, 2016 and it gave the Sox a 2-0 lead before the tarp came back out in between innings. Vazquez left his fingerprints all over the win, catching Twins left fielder Eddie Rosario trying to steal third after leading off the third with a double, then swiping a bag in the fourth. “He can steal off guys, but they have a tougher time stealing off him,” Pomeranz said. The wait was enough for Twins manager Paul Molitor to pull Santiago, not wanting to run the risk of Santiago doing any damage to his shoulder in his first start off the DL. The clean-up was left to righthander Alan Busenitz. He took the mound in the third inning and immediately gave up back-to-back singles to Pedroia and Bogaerts. He got Chris Young to fly to center. But on a 2-and-2 count to Jackie Bradley Jr., Busenitz left a fastball over the middle of the plate and Bradley lined it into center field. Sox third base coach Brian Butterfield initially held Pedroia, but when he saw the throw from Twins center fielder Byron Buxton sail to the netting along the backstop, Pedroia raced home. The error gave the Sox a 3-0 lead. Busenitz’s night was quick. Craig Breslow took the ball in the fourth, making his first appearance at Fenway since 2015. He got into some trouble quickly after striking out Andrew Benintendi to start the inning. He walked Vazquez, then Deven Marrero laced a double into the gap in right-center. Buxton nearly made a highlight-reel play, leaping and getting his glove on the ball, but couldn’t come up with the catch. With Mookie Betts on deck, Butterfield held the runners to make it second and third with one out. Betts delivered a sacrifice fly to push the Sox lead to 4-0. Then Pedroia shot a fly ball off the Wall to score Marrero. Pedroia was thrown out at second trying to stretch the single, but the Sox took a 5-0 lead. The Twins got on the board in the fifth on an RBI single by Buxton, but the Sox continued to pad their lead. With no outs and runners on first and second in the fifth, Twins second baseman Brian Dozier booted a sharp ground ball from Bradley. The ball ricocheted into left field and Xander Bogaerts came around to score, pushing the lead to 6-1 on the error. In the sixth, Young pounced on a 2-and-2 slider and shot it off the National Car Rental sign over the Monster Seats for a three-run homer to make it 9-1. For the sixth time this season, the Sox won by seven or more runs, but all navigating all the moving parts on the way to the win gave DiSarcina a greater appreciation for Farrell’s job. “It’s a lot of fun, it’s a lot of adrenaline and I could see and appreciate the trials and the tribulations and the struggles John goes through daily and nightly when it comes to removing a pitcher in a game and making those tough decisions because it’s difficult,” DiSarcina said. “Growing up around here, I don’t think I’m going to appreciate it until the season’s over, looking back and having a day like this. So it was different, but it’s part of the job.” Red Sox manager John Farrell suspended one game for poking umpire Julian Benbow Red Sox manager John Farrell served a one-game suspension Tuesday night for his role in a heated exchange with umpire Bill Miller in Saturday night’s loss to the Angels. Bench coach Gary DiSarcina filled in as manager against the Twins. Farrell got nose to nose with Miller in an argument that was ignited when Sox reliever Fernando Abad was called for a balk in the seventh inning. Farrell maintained that the Angels’ Kole Calhoun called time before Miller called the balk. During the argument, Farrell made contact with Miller, poking him in the chest. “Given what transpired the other night, I’m not surprised by it,” Farrell said Tuesday. “There was some accidental contact during the argument. So, it’s a one-game suspension.” Farrell said Major League Baseball didn’t offer any word on whether the ruling on the field was correct. But he said made it clear that he still disagreed with the call. “I haven’t received any further determination or review of what transpired,” Farrell said. “But my stance remains steadfast. I still firmly believe that time was called. I wasn’t arguing the balk, I was arguing the timing of it. And as I reiterated today to those that I spoke with that I still stand by my side of the argument. Unfortunately, there was contact made.” The explanation Miller gave after the game was that “the batter does not call time. The umpire calls time. I don’t think that has anything to do with the pitcher starting and stopping his motion, and that’s what we had on the field.” Farrell said he didn’t know whether any disciplinary action was taken against Miller. “I can’t answer that because none of it is ever public,” Farrell said. “So I don’t know if there was anything levied on the other side.” But Farrell did say he would like to see more transparency regarding umpires’ decision-making. “I think there have been strides made in that way with the pool reporter being able to go and get postgame comments,” he said. “Not too long ago, that wasn’t even allowed. So, yeah, I think everyone in uniform would prefer that to be made public. Whether or not that happens, I don’t know that. But that would be a choice that I would make.” Ramirez out again Hanley Ramirez was out of the lineup for the second straight game after being struck below the left knee by a 95 mile-per-hour fastball from Angels starter Parker Bridwell on Sunday.