MINNEAPOLIS - Twins right fielder Chris Parmelee provided the big hit in an 8-6 win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday at Target Field.
Parmelee hit his first home run of the year over the right-field wall on an 0-1 pitch from Red Sox pitcher Andrew Miller to win the game in walk-off fashion.
With Boston taking over the game’s momentum, Twins relievers Jared Burton and Glen Perkins cooled off the Red Sox’s hot bats.
After the Red Sox came back to tie the game at 6 with three runs in the seventh inning, Burton struck out two of three batters he faced in the eighth inning and Perkins burned through the top of Boston’s order in the top of the ninth, including strikeouts of Mike Napoli and David Ortiz.
Perkins earned the win in the game.
ADVERTISEMENT
Down 6-2 early, three two-out runs in the top of the seventh inning put Boston back in the game. The Red Sox put together four singles and two walks with two outs to tie the game at 6.
Boston cut its deficit to 6-4 in the seventh inning, scoring a run on three consecutive two-out singles off Twins reliever Michael Tonkin. After Tonkin retired Xander Bogaerts and Will Middlebrooks to start the inning, ninth-hitter Jackie Bradley, Jr. and leadoff hitter Dustin Pedroia hit back-to-back singles. Right fielder Shane Victorino knocked in Bradley with another single. With Brian Ortiz in for Tonkin, Ortiz drove in his fourth RBI of the game - a season high - with a single to left field on a full count to make it a 6-5 game. After walking Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli to load the bases with two outs, Duensing was replaced by Matt Guerrier, who walked pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes to tie the game 6-6. Caleb Thielbar was able to stop the bleeding, however, by striking out Red Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski to end the inning.
Red Sox right fielder Shane Victorino led off the sixth inning with a triple as Parmalee failed to reel in a diving catch in right field. Ortiz then drove in his third run of the game, bringing home Victorino, with a single to left field to make it a 6-3 game.
A five-run second inning helped the Twins take an early 6-2 lead on the Red Sox in the series opener at Target Field.
Boston got on the board first when, with two outs, former Twin David Ortiz sent an 0-1 pitch from Ricky Nolasco 388 feet to right field for a solo home run, his eighth on the season giving the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the first inning, Boston left fielder Grady Sizemore made a diving catch to rob Twins first baseman Joe Mauer of a hit. Mauer then earned some payback, making a diving snare of a line drive by Sizemore in the top of the second inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Twins scored five runs to take a 5-1 lead. Twins designated hitter Eduardo Nunez hit his first home run of the year - a two-run blast 352 feet to left field - on a 1-0 pitch to make it a 2-1 game. With one out, the Twins’ seventh hitter drove home Parmelee, who had reached on a walk the previous at-bat. In the same inning, Twins second baseman Brian Dozier knocked home shortstop Eduardo Escobar and center fielder Danny Santana with a one-out double to the gap in right-center field giving the Twins a 4-1 lead. Mauer capped the Twins’ big inning with a one-out single up the middle to score Dozier from second base, giving the Twins a 5-1 lead.
At the start of the fourth inning, Ortiz hit his second homer of the game, putting Nolasco’s first pitch into the stands, almost exactly where his first homer landed, 390 feet to right field. The solo home run was Ortiz’s ninth on the year and cut the Red Sox deficit to 5-2.
Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a double off the wall in left-center field. A deep fly ball by left fielder Jason Kubel advanced Plouffe to third base. Catcher Kurt Suzuki drove in Plouffe with a line-drive single to left field, making it a 6-2 game and knocking Red Sox starter Jake Peavy out of the game.
ADVERTISEMENT
With Chris Capuano on in relief of Peavy, Parmelee hit a single up the middle to move Suzuki to third base, then Parmelee took second base on a wild pitch. However, Nunez struck out and Escobar grounded out to end the threat.
NOTES: Twins 3B Trevor Plouffe’s first-inning single snapped an 0-for-23 streak. ... Red Sox DH David Ortiz’s fourth-inning home run - his second of the game - was his 382nd career home run with the Red Sox, tying Jim Rice for third on the club’s all-time list. It was Ortiz’s ninth home run of the season. ... Due to injuries to Josh Willingham, Oswaldo Arcia and Sam Fuld and because of the ineffectiveness at the plate by Aaron Hicks, the Twins played rookie SS Danny Santana in center field. Signed by the Twins as a non-drafted free agent in 2007, Santana was ranked the Twins’ ninth-best prospect and best defensive infielder entering 2014 by Baseball America. Santana, 23, played a grand total of 23 games in center field and two games in left field in the minors out of 529 games played between 2008 and 2014.
