Red Sox Lose Third Straight 9-2 At Hands of Twins

 

                                                 Sports Illustrated

Twins 9 Red Sox 2

Winning Pitcher: Scott Baker (2-2)

Losing Pitcher: Tim Wakefield (0-1)

Recap

Tensions ran high as the Red Sox lost their third straight game Friday night, with Terry Francona getting ejected in the second for arguing the common "step-balk." The Red Sox made two errors and the Twins were able walk away with a 9-2 drubbing. The problems started for starter Tim Wakefield when the second batter of the game, Trevor Plouffe, blasted a shot left. It was his first at-bat in the bigs this year. It started falling apart for the Red Sox in the top of the second. Wakefield started the inning allowing a walk and two singles to load the bases. After getting the next two guys out, Denard Span knocked a 2-run base hit to give the Twins a 3-0 lead. With runners on first and third, Wakefield faked a pick-off to third and turned to throw to first. The move was successful in that Denard Span was picked off at first before Ben Rever could score from home. However, the umpire ruled it was a "step-balk" (he didn't take a big enough step towards third) and each runner advanced, giving the Twins an early 4-0 lead. Francona was not happy with the call, and came out of the dugout to have a few words with ump Joe West. Francona was ejected almost immediately, because arguing step-balk's are treated arguing balls and strikes. In the bottom of the inning, JD Drew rocked his second homer of the year to right to cut the deficit to three. After another solo shot from Adrian Gonzalez in the fourth, the Red Sox were done with their offense. Twins starter Scott Baker pitched well, lasting eight innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. The Red Sox gave up five more runs in the game to fall to an eventual 9-2 score.

News and Notes

• Dustin Pedroia's struggles over the past couple weeks have not subsided after sitting out Thursday night's game. The Red Sox second baseman went 0-3 in the game, and is currently mired in a 6-53 slump. I am going into more detail in a blog at some point soon, but I find it amazing how much less you hear of a slump in May than one in the beginning of April.

The Red Sox will be back at it on Saturday afternoon at 1:10 PM ET. The Red Sox send Clay Buchholz (2-3 4.81) to the hill against the Twins' Brian Duensing (2-1 2.91).