Final, Red Sox 2-1: The Red Sox’s offense finally came alive, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
David Ortiz and Mike Napoli launched back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the 10th to give the Sox a dramatic, come-from behind victory.
The Red Sox now head to Oakland, where they’ll open a four-game set against the A’s on Thursday.
Mid 10th, Twins 1-0:Â Even Koji Uehara is not perfect.
Chris Parmelee homered off the Red Sox closer with two outs in the 10th, his ball soaring just over the outstretched glove of Brock Holt and into the Red Sox’s bullpen. The homer snapped a streak of 21 consecutive scoreless innings for Uehara dating back to May 1.
Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Mike Napoli will be the ones tasked with extending this game for the Sox.
End 9th, 0-0: Jared Burton needs just one pitch to retire Xander Bogaerts, who grounds out to third for the final out.
It’s free baseball time! Koji Uehara takes over on the mound as we head to the 10th.
Bottom 9th, 0-0: Brian Duensing retires Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt to open the bottom of the ninth before departing in lieu of right-hander Jared Burton. He’ll face Xander Bogaerts with two outs.
Mid 9th, 0-0:Â John Lackey walks Brian Dozier — the first free pass issued by either side today — but he retires the other three batters he faces in the top of the ninth to keep this one scoreless.
Pinch hitter Sam Fuld flied out to left, Danny Santana struck out looking and Joe Mauer grounded to Dustin Pedroia on edge of the grass behind second base.
It’ll be Jackie Bradley Jr. then the top of the order for the Red Sox in the bottom of the ninth.
End 8th, 0-0: Brian Duensing completes an inning of scoreless relief, inducing three groundouts in the process.
Jonny Gomes, pinch-hitting for Daniel Nava, grounded out to shortstop to lead off the inning, followed by groundouts to second by both A.J. Pierzynski and Stephen Drew.
We now head to the ninth, with John Lackey trotting back out to the mound.
Mid 8th, 0-0:Â Make that eight scoreless innings for John Lackey
After Chris Parmelee flied out to center to lead off the inning, Eduardo Escobar lined a base hit past Xander Bogaerts, who was playing nearly on the grass at third base. The ball stalled out halfway down the foul line, though, giving Daniel Nava plenty of time to corral it and nail Escobar at second base.
Lackey struck out Eric Fryer to end the inning.
Kyle Gibson’s day is now done, as Brian Duensing comes on in relief for the Twins. Duensing’s first opponent will be another substitute, as Jonny Gomes has come up to pinch-hit for Daniel Nava.
End 7th, 0-0: Double plays — they’ll kill ya.
David Ortiz reached with one out when Joe Mauer couldn’t handle his scorching ground ball (it was ruled an error, though Ortiz seemed to disagree with the ruling), but he was immediately wiped off the basepaths when Mike Napoli grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, ending the inning.
Dustin Pedroia opened the frame with a groundout to short.
Mid 7th, 0-0:Â Boom. Boom. Boom.
Three up, three down for the Twins in the seventh, as John Lackey sandwiches two strikeouts around a Josh Willingham groundout.
Lackey has allowed just two baserunners — both on singles by Chris Parmelee — and with a total of just 82 pitches, he’s not showing any signs of fatigue. Without some run support, though, this could easily turn into an unfortunate 2013 throwback for the right-hander.
Mid 6th, 0-0:Â Brock Holt energized this Fenway crowd a bit by reaching base with two outs (on an error, but the Red Sox will take whatever they can get at the moment).
That cheer quickly subsided, though, when Xander Bogaerts grounded out to short to end Boston’s sixth scoreless inning of the game.
The sixth frame also featured two more strikeouts for Kyle Gibson, with Stephen Drew and Jackie Bradley Jr. both going down by way of the K. Gibson’s strikeout total now is up to a career-high eight.
Mid 6th, 0-0:Â The Twins go down in order in the sixth, thanks in part to a nice heads-up play by Dustin Pedroia.
Pedro Florimon grounded out to shortstop to lead off the inning. Danny Santana then tried to drop down a bunt, which rolled into the no-man’s land between the mound and first base. John Lackey gave chase, but Pedroia made it there first, scooping the ball up and flipping it to Mike Napoli in time to retire the speedy leadoff man.
Pedroia then completed a much more routine putout of Brian Dozier to end the inning.
End 5th, 0-0: Hey! A hit!
The Red Sox finally got to Kyle Gibson here in the fifth, with Daniel Nava roping a two-out double off the wall in front of the Red Sox’s bullpen.
That was all they would get, though, as David Ortiz, Mike Napoli and A.J. Pierzynski were retired via flyout, strikeout and groundout to end the game’s fifth scoreless frame.
Mid 5th, 0-0:Â Chris Parmelee seems to be the only guy who wants to do any hitting today.
After Kendrys Morales skied a popup to Dustin Pedroia in shallow right field, Parmelee sent a grounder past the outstretched glove of Xander Bogaerts.
So, the hits total now looks like this: Chris Parmelee 2, everyone else 0.
Parmelee advanced to second on a wild pitch after Eduardo Escobar flied out to the warning track in right, but Eric Fryer stranded him there by grounding out to Stephen Drew to end the inning.
End 4th, 0-0: Xander Bogaerts comes through with perhaps the Red Sox’s best bid of the day with a line drive down the third base line, but Eduardo Escobar makes a backhanded catch to snag it out of the air.
Other than that, the Sox didn’t do much of anything in the fourth, with Brock Holt and Dustin Pedroia both going down swinging.
Kyle Gibson has now retired the first 12 batters he’s faced.
Mid 4th, 0-0:Â This game continues to fly, as John Lackey completes yet another 1-2-3 frame, his third in four innings.
Dustin Pedroia had a hand in the inning’s first two outs, snaring a Brian Dozier line drive and handling a Joe Mauer grounder, and Lackey struck out Josh Willingham for the second time today to end it.
Lackey has exhibited expert control so far this afternoon, throwing 39 of his first 49 pitches for strikes.
End 3rd, 0-0: Kyle Gibson now has retired every batter in the Red Sox’s order.
The Twins starter mowed the Sox down in order again in the third and still has yet to allow a hitter to reach base.
A.J. Pierzynski led off the inning with a groundout to second base, Stephen Drew flied out to right and Jackie Bradley Jr. grounded to first baseman Joe Mauer, who flipped it to Gibson for the final out.
Mid 3rd, 0-0:Â A quick, 1-2-3 third inning for John Lackey, who needs just 10 pitches to retire the side. Lackey struck out Eric Fryer and Pedro Florimon — his third and fourth K’s of the game — and got leadoff man Danny Santana to fly out to Brock Holt in right field.
Lackey has allowed just one baserunner so far today.
End 2nd, 0-0: The Red Sox get nothing against Kyle Gibson in the home half of the second, with David Ortiz grounding into the shift and Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava both striking out — swinging and looking, respectively.
This has been a very “Dr. Jekyll” start thus far for the highly inconsistent Gibson, who has yet to allow a ball out of the infield.
Mid 2nd, 0-0:Â The Twins put up one base hit but nothing more against John Lackey in their second trip to the dish.
Lackey struck out Josh Willingham with nothing but fastballs (three four-seamers and a two-seamer) to open the frame, then got Kendrys Morales to send a weak, broken-bat line drive into the infield shift.
Chris Parmelee smacked a two-out single into left-center field for the game’s first hit, but Lackey responded by striking out Eduardo Escobar to retire the side.
David Ortiz is due up first for the Red Sox in the bottom of the second.
End 1st, 0-0: Kyle Gibson follows up John Lackey’s 1-2-3 first inning with a perfect frame of his own.
Brock Holt grounded out to second base on the second pitch he saw, and Xander Bogaerts struck out on four pitches. Bogaerts didn’t come close on Gibson’s final two offerings, both 86-mph sliders.
Dustin Pedroia grounded out to shortstop to end the inning, with Pedro Florimon’s throw just beating him to the bag.
The Red Sox also just announced that pitcher Brandon Workman’s six-game suspension has not been reduced after an appeal. He will begin serving the ban today.
Mid 1st, 0-0:Â John Lackey makes quick work of the Twins in the first, retiring the side in order.
Leadoff man Danny Santana flied out to Daniel Nava after fouling off four Lackey offerings, and Brian Dozier followed by grounded out to short.
Joe Mauer then fouled off three pitches of his own before sending a sinking line drive into left field that Nava was able to settle under.
Boston’s newest superstar, Brock Holt, will lead off the home half of the first, followed by Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia.
It was also just announced in the press box that Grady Sizemore, who was designated for assignment Tuesday, has officially been released.
1:37Â p.m.:Â John Lackey’s first pitch to Danny Santana is high for ball one, and we are underway at Fenway.
Lackey will see Santana, Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer here in the first. The righty doesn’t have much history with Santana and Dozier, but Mauer has killed him over the years. The Twins first baseman carries a .367 career batting average (11-for-30) with two home runs and four RBIs against Lackey, though the big Texan has struck him out seven times.
1:05Â p.m.:Â A quick update on some rehabbing Red Sox before we get started here:
Shane Victorino (hamstring) and Will Middlebrooks (finger) both went 0-for-2 at the plate Tuesday night in a Triple-A game that was suspended due to rain in the top of the fourth inning. Victorino did reach on an error, though, and scored the PawSox’s only run.
Both players have seen action in three games with Pawtucket, but neither has done much with the bat. Victorino has gone 0-for-6 in his three contests, while Middlebrooks has gone 1-for-7.
Meanwhile, Clay Buchholz, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 28 with a hyperextended right knee, is scheduled to make his second rehab start with the PawSox on Thursday. Buchholz allowed three runs on four hits (including two solo home runs) in his first Triple-A start this past Saturday.
11:45 a.m. ET:Â Good morning from sunny Fenway Park, where the Boston Red Sox will take the field in just under two hours with hopes of closing out a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins.
Runs have been few and far between thus far in the series — the teams combined for just four over the first two games — and Red Sox starter John Lackey will look to continue that trend. Lackey, who leads the team in wins (eight) and ranks just four percentage points behind Jon Lester in ERA (3.24), has allowed three runs or fewer in nine of his last 10 starts.
The big right-hander has been brilliant against the Twins in recent years, as well, going 4-1 with a 1.66 ERA in his last six starts against Minnesota.
Opposing Lackey will be Kyle Gibson, a 26-year-old righty who is coming off consecutive seven-inning scoreless outings. Gibson’s starts have been extremely hit-or-miss this season, though: he’s allowed one or zero runs in five of his last 10 starts but four or more runs in the other five. With just 23 major league starts under his belt, Gibson has never faced any hitter on the Red Sox’s roster.
Speaking of hitters, here’s the starting lineup each team will be trotting out Wednesday afternoon:
Boston Red Sox (33-38)
Brock Holt, RF
Xander Bogaerts, 3B
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Daniel Nava, LF
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Stephen Drew, SS
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
John Lackey, RHP (8-4, 3.24 ERA)
Minnesota Twins (32-37)
Danny Santana, CF
Brian Dozier, 2B
Joe Mauer, 1B
Josh Willingham, LF
Kendrys Morales, DH
Chris Parmelee, RF
Eduardo Escobar, 3B
Eric Fryer, C
Pedro Florimon, SS
Kyle Gibson, RHP (6-5, 3.55 ERA)
We’ll have much more on the matchup leading up to first pitch at 1:35 p.m. Stay tuned.
