The Red Sox have taken their sixth and final spring training game against the Minnesota Twins, winning sole possession of the Mayor's Cup with a 5-1 victory.
Turning the game over to the bullpen, Bobby Valentine received impressive results from his relievers. Vicente Padilla was the first on the mound, surrendering a pair of hits in recording five scoreless outs, finishing his day with his second strikeout. Scott Atchison took over from there, bringing the Sox all the way into the fifth inning with just one baserunner to his name.
While Justin Thomas would end the fifth without allowing a run, the Sox' luck would run out in the next inning as Garret Mock allowed a solo shot to Chris Parmelee to lead off the sixth.
That would be all the pitching staff would allow, however, and the Sox' lineup struck back with a vengeance against Carl Pavano in the bottom half of the inning. Kevin Youkilis was hit by a pitch to start things, and pulled from the game for pinch-runner Pedro Ciriaco (Youkilis was not hurt). Ciriaco quickly stole second and third, then scored on Cody Ross' double. While Pavano would manage to record the second out without allowing any more damage, the third would prove elusive, as Ryan Sweeney, Mike Aviles, and Jacoby Ellsbury connected with a single, double, and triple respectively to open up a 4-1 lead. Only a relay home prevented it from being 5-1 as Ellsbury tried to leg out the inside-the-park homer.
The Sox would score again in the seventh on doubles from Adrian Gonzalez and Pedro Ciriaco, but the extra run would be unnecessary as Mock and Brock Huntzinger finished the rest of the game without allowing anymore runs.