The Red Sox fell for the third straight night, surrendering a 5-1 lead and eventually falling 6-5 in the tenth inning.
After Felix Doubront managed to strand a pair of baserunners in the top of the first, the lefty let the Twins take the lead in the second, with a leadoff double setting the table for Darin Mastroianni, who singled up the middle to make it 1-0, Twins.
The Sox responded instantly, however, scoring in the bottom of the second when Carl Crawford doubled with two outs in the inning and then scored on a flair to center by Kelly Shoppach. Doubront held the tie in the top half of the third, and then was gifted a big lead by the Red Sox, who took full advantage of a Minnesota mistake in the bottom half of the inning.
The frame started simply enough with a pair of ground ball singles bringing Adrian Gonzalez to the plate with two on and nobody out. While Gonzalez had wasted a similar opportunity in the first by grounding into a double play, this time he was up to the task, hitting a line drive into left that brought a run in. Brian Duensing would manage to get the next two outs without much trouble, getting Ryan Lavarnway on a fly ball and Will Middlebrooks on strikes, bringing Carl Crawford to the plate.
On the third pitch of the at bat, Crawford hit a high foul ball into foul territory right of first base. Justin Morneau moved to play the ball, but couldn't get set underneath, and had the foul bounce harmlessly off his glove, giving Crawford another chance. The next pitch was a fastball over the plate, and Crawford didn't miss it, launching a three-run shot into the bullpen to put the Sox ahead 5-1.
The Twins would not waste too much time in responding. Hitting a wall in the fifth (as he has seemed to do all-too-often the last couple of months), Doubront surrenderd a leadoff single, and then allowed a single and a walk to load the bases. Getting increasingly frustrated with the zone, Doubront would fall behind 3-1 to the next batter, Josh Willingham, and then walk in a run on the fifth pitch of the plate appearance. A single to center brought two more around, and only a great running grab by Cody Ross managed to hold the Twins to just a sacrifice fly to finish the inning, leaving them all tied up at 5-5.
The Sox and Twins would trade zeroes, with the Sox wasting a huge opportunity with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth before stranding Ryan Lavarnway at second in the ninth to send the game to extra innings. There, Vicente Padilla surrendered a leadoff double to Mastroianni and, while Will Middlebrooks was able to make a great diving play to turn an attempted bunt into an out in foul territory, Jamey Carroll singled to right to put the Twins up 6-5. The Sox went 1-2-3 in the bottom half, and the Twins secured at least a series tie.
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