Can the Red Sox dodge an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Twins? We'll keep you up-to-date on all the action as it goes down in Fenway Park.
Red Sox 6, Twins 1, End 8th -- The Sox add another insurance run as Jacoby Ellsbury hits a bullet of a sacrifice fly to center, bringing Ryan Kalish home from third after a leadoff double and stolen base.
Red Sox 5, Twins 1, Mid 8th -- Mark Melancon gives up a leadoff double to Jamey Carroll before striking out Ben Revere and getting a pop-up from Darin Mastroianni. Craig Breslow entered for the last out (much like he should have last night) and earned a ground ball from Joe Mauer to send the game to the bottom of the eighth.
Red Sox 5, Twins 1, End 7th -- Carl Crawford's third hit of the day helps the Sox add on an insurance run in the seventh, as he leads off with a single, moves to second on a Dustin Pedroia ground ball, and scores when Cody Ross singles into center. Only a great over-the-shoulder catch by Ben Revere on a long fly ball from Jarrod Saltalamacchia keeps the Twins from more trouble, as he fires back in to double up Adrian Gonzalez at second.
Red Sox 4, Twins 1, Mid 7th -- Mark Melancon strikes out Brian Dozier in the middle of a 1-2-3 seventh inning, leaving the Twins with just six outs to try and recover from a three-run hole.
Red Sox 4, Twins 1, End 6th -- Jarrod Saltalamacchia is robbed of a leadoff single by a great diving play from Alexi Casilla. Given the two hits that followed from Will Middlebrooks and Mike Aviles, Casilla can likely also be credited with saving a run.
Red Sox 4, Twins 1, Mid 6th -- The Sox manage to squeeze one final inning out of Franklin Morales, who retires the side in order to finish a strong day of work in his return to the rotation.
Red Sox 4, Twins 1, End 5th -- The Sox repay the first Minnesota run of the day with two of their own. After a lengthy battle at the plate, Carl Crawford takes a ninth-pitch changeup from Nick Blackburn and lines it past his head into center field for a one-out single. While Dustin Pedroia can't move him into scoring position, Adrian Gonzalez goes with a fastball away and goes opposite field into the Monster seats for a two-run shot that gives the Sox a nice cushion to work with.
Red Sox 2, Twins 1, Mid 5th -- A leadoff walk ends up costing Morales his first run of the game, as Alexi Casilla steals second base, moves to third on a ground ball, and then comes in to score on a sacrifice fly.
Red Sox 2, Twins 0, End 4th -- Nick Blackburn bounces back with his first 1-2-3 inning of the night against the bottom of the lineup. He'll have to face a 1-2-3 combination that's hit him pretty well to start the fifth.
Red Sox 2, Twins 0, Mid 4th -- A two-out single from Ryan Doumit costs Morales just three pitches, as he quickly gets Brian Dozier to pop out behind him to finish his fourth scoreless inning of work.
Red Sox 2, Twins 0, End 3rd -- The Sox finally break through against the mediocre Nick Blackburn in the third. A leadoff single from Mike Aviles gets the lineup turned over in the right way, and with Jacoby Ellsbury doubling to the base of the Monster behind him the Sox have runners on second and third with nobody out. A sharp ground ball to short from Carl Crawford would be enough to bring the first run in, and Adrian Gonzalez quickly made it 2-0 with a bloop to center befroe Cody Ross popped out and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a long fly ball to center to end the inning.
Red Sox 0, Twins 0, Mid 3rd -- Morales gets into a bit of trouble in the third, with two men reaching with one out, but a pickoff throw catches Darin Mastroianni at first, and Morales gets a ground ball from Mauer to end the inning.
Red Sox 0, Twins 0, End 2nd -- A two-out single up the middle and steal from Will Middlebrooks is all the Sox get in a scoreless second.
Red Sox 0, Twins 0, Mid 2nd -- Franklin Morales picks up his third strikeout as he ends a 1-2-3 second inning with a K of Alexi Cassila.
Red Sox 0, Twins 0, End 1st -- Carl Crawford gives the Sox their first hit of the game with a first-pitch line drive to center field, but Dustin Pedroia grounds out and Adrian Gonzalez hits a pop-up to keep the Sox off the board in the first.
Red Sox 0, Twins 0, Mid 1st -- The Twins go scoreless in the first, but they make Franklin Morales work awfully hard for his outs. After a leadoff single and stolen base from Ben Revere, Morales finds the bottom of the zone with the count full against Darin Mastroianni for strikeout number one and drops a curveball on the corner down and away to Joe Mauer for number two. Morales ends up losing Josh Willingham after getting ahead 1-2, but gets a ground ball from Justin Morneau to end things without damage.