Twins vs Red Sox (5/4-5/6)

Game 1: The Red Sox got another brilliant performance out of Tim Wakefield as he lowered his ERA to 2.11 on the season. Wakefield pitched 7 shutout innings and only allowed 6 baserunners. Romero, Donnelly, and Papelbon all pitched well in relief and Papelbon picked up the save.

The Red Sox were fortunate that Wakefield and the bullpen were on top of things because their offense was only able to push 2 runs past Carlos Silva and the Twins. The Red Sox took the lead in the 6th inning with a solo shot from David Ortiz and scored another run in the 8th inning on an RBI single from Coco Crisp. The win moves the Red Sox to 19-9 on the season.

Game 2: In a game that appeared to be a huge mismatch on paper, Julian Tavarez kept the Red Sox in the game and actually outpitched Johan Santana. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, the Twins caught a few breaks and were able to score 2 runs against Julian Tavarez. The Red Sox offense also blew a couple of golden opportunities against Johan Santana early in the game.

The Red Sox had a chance to tie the game in the top of the 9th inning. Kevin Youkilis got on base with 1 out to give David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez a chance to make something happen. Ortiz made very good contact on Nathan, but Torii Hunter was able to track the ball down in centerfield. Nathan then retired Manny Ramirez to end the game and the Twins won by the score of 2-1. The loss dropped the Red Sox to 19-10, but they remain 5.5 games ahead of the Yankees.

Game 3: The Red Sox offense was able to score 4 runs against Sidney Ponson in the 5.1 innings that he pitched. They took the 4-0 lead into the 7th inning when Curt Schilling began to unfold. Schilling ended up being removed from the game after allowing two runs. He was eplaced by Hideki Okajima who allowed an RBI single and a 3rd run was charged to Schilling. Okajima ended up getting out of the inning with a 4-3 lead.

Okajima came out to pitch the 8th inning and did a nice job. He gave way to Papelbon in the 9th inning. Papelbon struck out the first batter he faced and then induced a ground ball out. Jason Tyner then blooped to Mike Lowell to end the game. The Red Sox win the game by the score of 4-3 and take 2 out of 3 games from Minnesota. They moved to 20-10 on the season and remain 5.5 games ahead of New York.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series in Toronto on Tuesday night. Josh Beckett will face Victor Zambrano in the opener.