MINNEAPOLIS — Josh Beckett had five strikeouts and one confrontation with an umpire in six sharp innings Tuesday night, and David Ortiz homered with three RBI to lead the Boston Red Sox to an 11-2 romp over the Minnesota Twins.
Beckett (2-2) allowed two runs and five hits, and Mike Aviles went 4 for 5 with a homer and two RBI for the Red Sox, who had no trouble with this big lead after squandering a nine-run advantage Saturday in a loss to the New York Yankees.
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Beckett jawed with plate umpire Adrian Johnson after a rough first inning, but finished his evening by striking out the side in the sixth.
Nick Blackburn (0-2) gave up five runs and eight hits in just three innings for the Twins.
Beckett needed 37 pitches to grind through the first inning. He walked three straight, including Justin Morneau with the bases loaded, to make it 3-1.
Beckett gave several long looks into Johnson on close pitches to Josh Willingham and Danny Valencia. After getting Valencia to ground out to end the inning, Beckett let out a scream as he walked off the mound and yelled “That’s (expletive) five outs!” in Johnson’s direction. As Johnson started to walk toward Beckett, Manager Bobby Valentine briefly left the dugout to diffuse the situation.
The only trouble Beckett gave the rest of the way was to the Twins’ offense. Willingham doubled home Jamey Carroll in the fifth, but that was all Minnesota could muster.
Ortiz’s monster two-run shot in the third inning landed on the stairway in right field – an estimated 429 feet – to make it 5-1. Ortiz is hitting .444 with three homers and 15 RBI. His 28 hits are a career high for April.
Adrian Gonzalez had three hits and two RBI, and Scott Atchison and Matt Albers pitched three innings of scoreless relief.
The Red Sox led the Yankees 9-0 after five innings Saturday, but their beleaguered bullpen gave it all back and then some, including consecutive seven-run innings in a loss Valentine termed rock bottom. They rebounded with two strong performances in Minnesota, which has lost four straight .
Blackburn left his previous start in the sixth inning with stiffness in his right shoulder and was skipped the next time through the rotation. He gave up three runs and five hits in the first, and needed 71 pitches to get through three innings.
Left-hander Matt Maloney didn’t fare any better, getting tagged for five runs and eight hits in 12/3 innings.
Willingham had two hits and an RBI for Minnesota.
NOTES: Outfielder Carl Crawford flew from Ft. Myers, Fla., to Boston for an examination on his strained left elbow. Valentine said they were “still gathering information” but said it would remain a concern until he was deemed 100 percent. Crawford has yet to play this season.
The Twins placed infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka on the minor league disabled list with a high ankle sprain. General Manager Terry Ryan said Nishioka could miss 10 days with the injury.
The Twins planned to call up outfielder Ben Revere from Triple-A Rochester on Wednesday to replace Willingham, who is taking three days of paternity leave while his wife has the couple’s third child.
The Red Sox will send right-hander Clay Buchholz (1-1, 9.00 ERA) to the mound against Minnesota right-hander Liam Hendriks (0-0, 3.86 ERA) tonight. Buchholz gave up six earned runs and five home runs in a loss to the Yankees last week.
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