BOSTON – Stephen Drew doubled in the winning run with two outs in the 11th inning, and the Boston Red Sox rallied past the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Monday night to snap a season-high, three-game losing streak.

Drew, who entered the game batting .182, homered and had four hits. Dustin Pedroia hit a solo shot in the eighth for a 5-4 lead, but Joel Hanrahan gave up Brian Dozier’s homer in the ninth and left one out later with right forearm tightness.

Clayton Mortensen (1-2) earned the win with 21/3 innings of scoreless relief. Pedroia and Shane Victorino had three apiece, and David Ortiz doubled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 26 games.

Jared Burton (0-1) retired his first two batters in the 11th, then gave up a swinging bunt single to Jarrod Saltalamacchia when the pitcher’s throw pulled first baseman Justin Morneau off the bag. Will Middlebrooks singled, and Drew hit a line drive to the base of the Green Monster in left-center.

It was Boston’s first walkoff win since Mike Napoli’s ninth-inning double beat the Tampa Bay Rays on Marathon Monday, just a half-hour before two bombs exploded at the race’s finish line.

Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz struggled early, falling behind 4-1 after five innings. But the Red Sox came back with single runs in five straight innings, including Pedroia’s homer off a Green Monster light stanchion that broke an eighth-inning tie.

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It was Pedroia’s first homer since Sept. 11 — a span of 184 at-bats for the 2008 AL MVP.

One start after Toronto broadcaster Jack Morris accused him of throwing a spitball, Buchholz was rescued from his first loss of the season by the Boston comeback. There was no follow-up to the allegations, which Buchholz has denied, except that he had his worst outing this season.

Buchholz, who had won his previous six starts this year, gave up back-to-back doubles off the Green Monster to Joe Mauer and Josh Willingham in the first inning, then fell behind 4-1 in the fifth. The right-hander allowed four runs, seven hits and two walksl, striking out nine in six innings as his ERA rose from 1.01 to 1.60.

That gave Minnesota starter Vance Worley a chance to end a losing streak dating to August. But Jacoby Ellsbury doubled and scored in the fifth; Victorino, who homered in the fourth, singled and scored in the sixth; and Drew homered to right in the seventh to tie it 4-all.

Pedroia homered in the eighth with a high fly ball that bounced off the light support above the left-field wall.

Worley allowed three runs and nine hits in five innings. Since winning at the Washington Nationals on Aug. 1, he is 0-7 with a 6.87 ERA in 12 starts.

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NOTES: The Red Sox placed reliever Andrew Bailey on the 15-day disabled list because of strained right biceps.

Boston activated lefty reliever Craig Breslow from the DL on Monday.

The 28-year-old Bailey started the season as the setup man, but was elevated to the closer’s role when Joel Hanrahan went on the DL in April with a strained right hamstring.

Bailey was 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA and five saves in 13 games before going on the disabled list.

Bailey missed most of last season after having surgery on his right thumb during spring training. The right-hander also missed a large portion of the 2011 and 2010 seasons when he was with Oakland because of injuries.

Breslow started the season on the DL with shoulder tendinitis. …

Buchholz has not allowed a homer to the Twins in his career, a total of 352/3 innings. …

The Twins have not made an error for nine straight games.

 


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