The Red Sox are out to avenge their embarrassing loss to the Twins as they take on Brian Duensing Friday night.
We'll keep you up-to-date on all the action as it goes down in Fenway Park.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, End 9th -- A two-out double off the wall from Ryan Lavarnway gives Will Middlebrooks a chance to end the game, but while the rookie is able to work a decent battle against Jeff Gray, he ultimately grounds out to third, sending the game to extra innings.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, Mid 9th -- A loss of control from Andrew Miller with two outs puts two men on for the Twins, but Vicente Padilla enters and strikes out Danny Valencia to finish the frame with the tie intact and give the Sox a chance for a walkoff in the bottom half of the inning.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, End 8th -- The Red Sox waste a golden opportunity in tragic fashion. With the bases loaded, one out, and their top two batters coming to the plate, all Boston needed to take the lead was a fly ball, or even a well-placed grounder. Instead, what they get is Jacoby Ellsbury swinging at ball three for strike three (looking like nobody so much as Carl Crawford at his worst) and Dustin Pedroia hitting a lazy fly ball that brings the inning to a sadly unproductive end.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, Mid 8th -- Mark Melancon picks up the first two outs before an infield single draws Andrew Miller into the game. The lefty reliever is able to get a ground ball from Denard Span, sending the game to the bottom of the eighth.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, End 7th -- Cody Ross' wall ball double goes for naught as Adrian Gonzalez is given first and Ryan Lavarnway pops up behind home plate to end the inning. The Sox have been very quiet since those first few innings.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, Mid 7th -- A 2-out double from Justin Morneau is all that stops the Twins from making it two straight 1-2-3 frames. Mark Melancon is called on to record the last out, and gets Danny Valencia swinging to end the frame.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, End 6th -- The Red Sox give the game its first 1-2-3 inning, with Kelly Shoppach and Ryan Sweeney going down by way of the K as Brian Duensing finishes the sixth inning.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, Mid 6th -- Three ground ball outs help Junichi Tazawa to work around a one-out double to the wall in left, leaving the teams locked at five-a-piece.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, End 5th -- Two straight errors get the Sox off to a great--if lucky--start in the fifth. They waste it, though, as Lavarnway grounds into a double play and Will Middlebrooks pops up behind him to end the threat in rapid fashion.
Red Sox 5, Twins 5, Mid 5th -- And the Red Sox' lead comes to a dramatic end.
Felix Doubront, in what is becoming all-too-common a scene for him, just could not keep it up as his pitch count rose. A leadoff single grew into a bases loaded, one out situation, and with Doubront growing increasingly frustrated with the strike zone, the first run of the inning came in on a walk to Josh Willingham. Justin Morneau singled to center behind him to bring home two more runs, and a line drive should likely have meant a Minnesota lead were it not for Cody Ross running the ball down in right field, holding the Twins to just the game-tying sacrifice fly. Darin Mastroianni would finally end the inning with a fly all, but the damage had been done.
Red Sox 5, Twins 1, End 4th -- Mike Aviles also hits a single, but like Doubront, Duensing is able to work out of trouble, getting a double play ball from Dustin Pedroia to end the frame.
Red Sox 5, Twins 1, Mid 4th -- Morneau leads off the inning with a single, but Doubront picks up a strikeout and two ground balls to make sure it doesn't develop into anything significant.
Red Sox 5, Twins 1, End 3rd -- A big inning for the Sox should have been just a small one, but they're not about to give it back. After a pair of ground ball singles from Dustin Pedroia and Cody Ross, Adrian Gonzalez made up for his first inning GIDP by cashing in with a line drive into left field to score a run. Ryan Lavarnway and Will Middlebrooks would provide the first two outs without bringing a second run in, and when Carl Crawford hit a pop-up into foul territory, the inning seemed over.
Justin Morneau, however, was not up to the task of making the routine play, letting the ball bounce off his glove and giving Crawford another opportunity. And did he ever take advantage of it. A fastball down the chute was launched deep to right, dropping into the bullpens for a three-run jack that put the Sox up 5-1.
Red Sox 1, Twins 1, Mid 3rd -- Felix Doubront starts a double play after giving up a one-out walk to Joe Mauer, holding the tie in the third.
Red Sox 1, Twins 1, End 2nd -- The Sox grab the tie right back in the bottom half of the second thanks to some good two-out hitting. After Ryan Lavarnway went down on solid contact and Will Middlebrooks grounded out, Carl Crawford pulled a breaking ball away from him into right field for a double, and then came around to score when Kelly Shoppach smacked a line drive up the middle and into center field.
Twins 1, Red Sox 0, Mid 2nd -- Doubront can't get away from early trouble this time around. A leadoff double from Justin Morneau costs the southpaw a run, with Darin Mastroianni singling back up the middle one out later to bring the run in from third.
Red Sox 0, Twins 0, End 1st -- Adrian Gonzalez has been hot at the plate lately, but he comes up worse-than-empty when the Sox need him in the first. After the first two batters reach with hits to make it 1st-and-3rd with nobody out, a Cody Ross pop-up gets Duensing one of the outs he needs, and Adrian Gonzalez grounds into a double play behind him to leave the Sox scoreless.
Red Sox 0, Twins 0, Mid 1st -- Felix Doubront manages a scoreless first inning thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury. After a one-out line drive bounces off his glove, Doubront gives up a single to left field putting two on. The Twins, thankfully, outthink themselves, with Joe Mauer running into an out at second with a double steal. Josh Willingham almost cashes in anyways, hitting a long fly ball towards the triangle in center, but Ellsbury is able to chase it down, making the grab at full speed to end the inning.