Red Sox 3, Twins 2: Close, But No Cigar

One could hardly make the argument that the Twins were thoroughly dominated at Fenway on Wednesday night. On a rainy night where offense was tough to come by, the Twins held their own but were doomed by a David Ortiz drive that bounced off the top of the Green Monster and was initially ruled a triple before being rightfully switched to a homer after official review.

That was the difference in a slim one-run loss. The Twins hitters failed to take advantage of Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz's erratic tendencies, drawing only one walk against the right-hander while striking out seven times. As a result, Buchholz dominated over eight innings and by the time the Twins attempted their ninth-inning comeback it was too late. The Twins did manage to get Jim Thome to the plate with the tying run on second in the ninth, but Thome tapped out to second and the rally came up short.

For his part, Scott Baker pitched a solid game. Over six innings, he allowed three runs on eight hits, striking out four and walking one. Baker kept the ball in the zone but still ran up 105 pitches over his six frames, as the pesky Boston lineup made him work for every out. In the end, it was a hittable pitch to Ortiz -- who as I mentioned in my pre-game writeup is in a mode right now where he should be pitched around -- that sunk Baker.

And it was a terrible night from the bottom of the lineup that sunk the Twins offensively. The 6-through-9 spots in the Twins lineup combined to go 0-for-12 in the game. That included an 0-for-2 effort from Brendan Harris, who now has one hit in his past 19 at-bats and is hitting .181 on the season. Good to see him taking advantage of the opportunity provided by J.J. Hardy's injury.

Ultimately, it's difficult to fault the Twins too much for narrowly losing against a good pitcher and a good team in a very tough stadium. But they now find themselves 2-4 on this road trip and needing a win in the finale in order to head home with any type of positive vibe.