G93: Red Sox 6, Twins 5

Twins   - 000 300 110 - 5 11  0
Red Sox - 100 000 14x - 6 11  1

Another eighth-inning comeback!

Trailing 5-2, Ellsbury began the inning with an opposite field double off Reyes, a fly ball that landed close to the line and hopped into the corner. Guerrier came in to pitch and allowed a single to Pedroia (his 2nd hit, 16-game streak), a flair into shallow right field. Down by three, Lyndon wisely was held at third. Drew (who doubled home the team's first run back in the opening frame) grounded out to second, scoring Ellsbury and moving Pedroia to second.

Manny then whacked Guerrier's first pitch over the Wall and into the Monster Seats for a game-tying home run. 5-5! Lowell struck out on three pitches, but Youkilis cranked a double to left-center that Gomez dove for but could not snare. (Yook also singled in the fifth and tripled and scored in the seventh.) Yook took third on a wild pitch and scored the go-ahead run on Moss's single up the middle.

In the ninth, Punto doubled to lead off and was bunted to third, but Papelbon struck out pinch-hitter Kubel and got Casilla to ground to second.

The Yankees blanked the Rays 5-0 in the Bronx, so we are now 3 GB and the MFY are 7.5 GB.

***

Nick Blackburn (3.78, 104 ERA+) / Jon Lester (3.21, 133 ERA+)

Varitek gets the night off.

Since May 17:

Varitek .174/.267/.280
Cash    .114/.188/.227

Sigh.

Also: Rays at Yankees (Kazmir/Pettitte), 7 PM