The Red Sox pulled away late to beat the Minnesota Twins 6-1 in Friday night’s series opener, with Rafael Devers delivering the go-ahead two-run single in the seventh after Brayan Bello went toe-to-toe with Twins starter Joe Ryan in a hard fought pitchers’ duel.

But the joy of the win was tempered given the much larger loss the Red Sox may have sustained.

Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas was removed from the game in the bottom of the second inning after suffering what appeared to be a serious leg injury on a close play at first base. Casas was attempting to beat out a throw from Ryan on a short chopper in front of the mound, and upon reaching the base he slipped as he stepped on the bag and fell hard to the ground.

Casas remained on his back for several minutes as he was attended by the trainer and was eventually carted off the field on a stretcher. He was subsequently replaced in the game by Romy Gonzalez.

Following the game, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Casas had suffered a “significant” knee injury and was undergoing more tests at the hospital, and that he knew right away things were bad.

“It seemed like he was in shock to be honest with you,” Cora said. “He said it right away that he didn’t feel it. It’s tough, he works so hard and we want him on the field. It was a hustle play too, and that happened.”

The injury is another huge setback for Casas, who missed a significant portion of last season as well due to a torn cartilage in his ribcage. So far this season Casas had gotten off to a tough start, batting .184 with three home runs and 11 RBI entering Friday, but he’d begun showing signs of a turnaround, batting .278 with a 1.069 OPS over his previous six games.

“He was looking forward to having a big season for us. He didn’t start the way he wanted but he kept grinding, kept working and now this happens,” Cora said. “At the end we’re human beings and you suffer, you suffer with them and it was tough to see.”

The injury left his teammates in a state of disbelief.

“Horrible, obviously we’re all thinking about him and hoping for the best,” Alex Bregman said. “We’re a big family in here that comes to the ballpark every day together and to see one of your guys go down like that, it’s really tough.”

“It’s tough to see a teammate going down like that, he lost time last year with an injury and then this happened to him,” Bello said via interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “Obviously everyone is down and is sad wishing him a speedy recovery and we hope everything goes well for him.”

At the time of Casas’ injury the Red Sox already led 1-0 thanks to a home run by Bregman in the bottom of the first, his eighth of the season. The Twins tied the score at 1-1 on a Ryan Jeffers leadoff home run in the third, but after that Bello and Ryan were in full control, holding the other team’s lineups at bay all the way into the seventh inning.

Ryan finished with one run allowed over six innings, with four hits, one walk and eight strikeouts, while Bello gave up one run over 6.2 innings, allowing four hits and one walk with five strikeouts in his best outing of the season so far.

It was the sixth consecutive quality start by the Red Sox starting rotation, the club’s longest streak since Aug. 4-13, 2017.

“Electric,” Cora said of Bello. “He was good, good command of the fastball, him and (Connor Wong) worked great together, kept the ball down, off speed pitches to get back into counts, he was tremendous.”

After stranding two men in the sixth, the Red Sox finally broke through in the seventh against Minnesota’s bullpen. Wong and David Hamilton reached on a pair of singles, Ceddanne Rafaela advanced the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, and after Jarren Duran struck out, Devers came through with a ground ball to right that had just enough to get through for a two-run single.

Boston scored three more runs in the eighth on a pair of RBI doubles by Gonzalez and Hamilton and an RBI single by Duran. Devers (3 for 5, two RBI) appeared to drive in a fourth, but upon review Duran was ruled out on a close play at the plate.

Liam Hendriks came on in the ninth and locked things down, helping Boston (18-16) snap its two-game losing streak. The club now awaits news on Casas, but whether the word is good or bad, the club will look to make it two in a row on Saturday.