The Minnesota Twins used a 5-run 5th inning to beat Jon Lester and the Boston Red Sox 5-2 in front of 20,019 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on Tuesday night.
The loss for the Red Sox drops them to 27-19 but they remained in first place in the AL East with a 1 game lead over the Yankees, who lost to the Texas Rangers. The Twins improve to 23-24.
Lester’s 2009 season has been a roller coaster ride. He’s looked good at times and at other times looked awful. He was cruising along until the 5th inning last night. He ended up going 6 innings, allowing the 5 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4.
Daniel Bard worked an inning out of the bullpen, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out 1. Takashi Saito struck out the side in the 8th inning.
Nick Blackburn started this one for the Twins and had a very consistent outing. He went 7 innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7. Matt Guerrier struck out 2 in the 8th and Joe Nathan allowed a hit in the 9th but picked up his 7th save of the season.
Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 21 games with a 2-hit night and added 2 stolen bases. Dustin Pedroia and Julio Lugo both added two hits with Pedroia getting the only RBI of the night for the Red Sox. David Ortiz moved down to the 6th spot in the lineup and went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
It was scoreless through the first four innings of the game. That all changed in the 5th inning.
Lugo led off the inning with a single but was retired at second on an Ellsbury fielder’s choice. With Pedroia at the plate, Ellsbury stole second and then came around to score on a double by Pedroia to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. J.D. Drew grounded out to second to move Pedroia to third. Blackburn left him stranded there as he struck out Kevin Youkilis, one of Youk’s three strikeouts on the night, to end the inning.
Brendan Harris started the bottom half of the inning with a lead off single. Delmon Young flew out to center on an absolutely amazing diving catch by Ellsbury. Matt Tolbert then reached on an infield single and Nick Punto followed with a single to score Harris to tie the game at one. Punto ended up advancing to second on the throw home.
Lester got the second out of the inning when Denard Span grounded out to second as the Red Sox conceded the run. After a walk to Mauer, Morneau delivered the big blow when he took a Lester offering and hit a 3-run line drive home run to give the Twins a 5-1 lead.
Blackburn started the 7th by retiring Lugo. Ellsbury and Pedroia hit back-to-back singles and then Drew grounded into a fielder’s choice double play that saw Pedroia out at second. Ellsbury ended up scoring on the play due to a bad throw on the double play attempt and Drew was nailed trying to advance to second.
Another rough outing for Lester and once again the Red Sox left a small village on the bases. They were just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
These same two teams are back at it again on Wednesday night when Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kevin Slowley square off.
