MINNEAPOLIS — David Ortiz homered twice for the second straight game and the Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 9-4 on Wednesday night.
Big Papi went 3 for 5 with two RBIs, one night after a four-hit performance against his former team. Both of his homeruns — off Kevin Correia (1-5) in the third and Caleb Theilbar in the fifth — traveled more than 400 feet into the right-field upper deck at Target Field, where he’s batting .528 (28 of 53) in 13 career games.
Additional Photos
It was more than enough for Felix Doubront (2-3), who allowed a run on seven hits in 6 1-3 innings and retired nine straight at one point. Doubront hadn’t won since April 3 at Baltimore, his first start of the season.
Ortiz, who also doubled in the first inning, moved into sole possession of third place on Boston’s all-time homers list (384) and recorded his 43rd career multi-homer game, 41 of which have come with the Red Sox.
Even the Minnesota fans — many of whom likely remember some of the 58 homers he hit with the Twins from 1997-2002 — appreciated Ortiz’s display of power, politely standing and clapping as he rounded the bases after his second homer put Boston up 6-1 in the fifth.
Trevor Plouffe hit his second homer of the year for Minnesota, a two-run shot in the ninth.
Joe Mauer’s sacrifice fly in the third scored Eduardo Escobar. Minnesota added an unearned run in the eighth after a throwing error by Burke Badenhop from the mound allowed Chris Parmelee to reach third, He eventually scored on Eduardo Nunez’s RBI single.
Grady Sizemore had two hits and a pair of RBIs; Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli and Will Middlebrooks each drove in a run for Boston. A.J. Pierzynski added a two-run double in the ninth.
NOTES: Ortiz’s 442 homers moved him into a tie with Dave Kingman for 39th place on baseball’s all-time home run list. . The Twins reinstated OF Oswaldo Arcia from the 15-day DL and optioned him to Triple-A Rochester. Arcia missed 33 games with a right wrist strain before playing a 12-game rehab assignment in Rochester. … Friday will be a big day for injured Twins players in Rochester. Manager Ron Gardenhire said OF Josh Willingham (broken wrist) will start a rehab assignment, and RHP Mike Pelfrey (groin) will start on Friday for the Red Wings. . The teams will play the rubber third game of their series Thursday when Clay Buchholz (2-3) — who is 3-1 in seven career starts against Minnesota — takes the mound for Boston. The Twins’ Phil Hughes (4-1) will try for his fifth straight win
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.