How does the old adage go? “Oh well, you can’t win them all”.
Well despite coming back from a 2-0 deficit last night, the Boston Red Sox fell to the Minnesota Twins 5-2 at Target Field. Even with the loss, the Red Sox took the series from the Twins.
The bad news though is that the New York Yankees won last night. That means the Red Sox lead in the AL East has shrunk to 1.5 games over them.
Nick Blackburn did a great job of shutting the Red Sox offense down last night as it looked as though they were already enjoying their off day in Seattle today. They managed just six hits off of him with two of them coming off the bat of Mike Aviles.
The only serious threat they managed to mount against Blackburn other than the run they scored in the 7th was in the 4th inning. They had runners at first and second with one out but Blackburn got Carl Crawford to fly out and he struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia looking.
The run in the 7th came when Aviles walked with two outs and went to second when Jacoby Ellsbury reached on an error. Marco Scutaro brought him in with a single to cut the lead Twins lead to 2-1. Glen Perkins came in and got Adrian Gonzalez to fly out. Perkins would give up the tying home run in the 8th though when David Ortiz blasted one off of his former team.
But with Daniel Bard, Matt Albers and Jonathan Papelbon not available for the Red Sox, skipper Terry Francona had to stick with Jon Lester a little longer than he wanted too. And it might have cost him the game.
Lester started the bottom of the 8th with the score tied at 2. He gave up a leadoff walk to the babealicious Joe Mauer and it ended up costing him. After Michael Cuddyer moved him up to second on a groundout, Jim Thome brought in the eventual winning with a double that chased Lester from the game. Alfredo Aceves came in and gave up a RBI double to Danny Valencia and two batters later gave up another single that provided the final margin.
Off the five walks that Lester gave up, four of them came back to hurt them. None was bigger than the 8th though. Overall, Lester didn’t pitch too badly. Unfortunately for him, the offense must have thought he was Josh Beckett.
The Red Sox are off today so we’ll be back in a short while with the pitching matchups for the upcoming series with the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. But for now enjoy the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
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Lester, Sox lose control [Boston Globe]
Reserving judgment on bench moves [Boston Globe]
Some rest for Pedroia [Boston Globe]
Good start goes bad for Sox [Boston Herald]
No shame in this defeat [Boston Herald]
Power outage for Adrian Gonzalez [Boston Herald]
Twins rally this time, win it 5-2 [CSN New England]
Notes: Lester loses back-to-back games [CSN New England]
Red Sox allowed some long-overdue rest [CSN New England]
Pedroia — .376 last 2 months — gets day off [ESPN Boston]
Rapid reaction: Twins 5, Red Sox 2 [ESPN Boston]
Jon Lester doesn’t get much help in loss to Minnesota Twins [ESPN Boston]
Pedroia puts up fight but gets night out of lineup [ESPN Boston]
Closing Time: Red Sox bats fall flat in 5-2 season finale loss to Twins [Full Count]
Video: Andrew Miller’s Future in Rotation Unclear, But Lefty Gives Red Sox Insurance Down Stretch [NESN.com]
Red Sox Stretched Thin, Can’t Overcome Fatigue in Series-Ending Loss to Twins [NESN.com]
Video: Jon Lester Struggles With Command, Lack of Run Support in Loss to Twins [NESN.com]
Heidi Watney Tours Target Field, Discovers Ballpark Filled With Minnesota’s Heritage [NESN.com]
Lester gives Minnesota a pass in series finale [Providence Journal]
Red Sox getting plenty of production from bottom of the order [Providence Journal]
Red Sox Journal: Pedroia takes breather while getting is good [Providence Journal]
Fueled by doubters, Papelbon having big year [RedSox.com]
Red Sox Have Shown Ability to Win Road Games, But Earning Home-Field Advantage in Playoffs Still Important [Tom Caron – NESN.com]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer-Press websites. You can also check out our Bloguin brother, Twins Target.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
Photo credit: Getty Images
