Twins Pummeled By Ortiz, Nava In 12-5 Loss To Red Sox

This game was painful. Not only because of the blowout loss and the 3rd 4th loss in a row for the Twins, but also because the game lasted nearly 4 hours despite going only 9 innings. David Ortiz had two home runs and Daniel Nava added one of his own in propelling the Red Sox over the Twins 12-5 on Saturday night.

Ortiz's damage started right away in the first inning off Twins starter Scott Diamond. With two runners on and one away, Big Papi came to the plate and drove a Diamond pitch over the large scoreboard in right field for a quick 3-0 lead. Then with the lead 3-1 in the 3rd, Ortiz came to the plate again with 2 on and 1 away and singled to right field, making the score Ortiz 4, Twins 1.

The Twins did have a threat going in the bottom of the 3rd. Josh Willingham hit a one out double, and then with two outs Oswaldo Arcia and Trevor Plouffe drew consecutive walks off Red Sox starter Ryan Dempster. This brought Aaron Hicks to the plate with the bases loaded, who green-lighted himself on the first pitch of the at-bat and drove a dead-red fastball deep to the right-center field alley, but his drive was caught just short of the warning track by right fielder Daniel Nava.

Minnesota did cut the score to 4-2 in the 4th with an RBI single from Justin Morneau, but the Red Sox widened their lead in the 5th. Jonny Gomes and Dustin Pedroia hit consecutive doubles to make it 5-2, and Diamond's day was finished after retiring Ortiz for the first out. In came Anthony Swarzak, and he was unable to quite the Red Sox bats as he allowed a walk, sacrifice fly, and a pair of singles to give the Sox two more runs. In fact, the Twins only escaped the inning as on that last single, Will Middlebrooks was thrown out trying to advance to 3rd base.

That five run lead did not last for long, however. The Twins offense had been patient with Dempster, driving his pitch count up to 101 pitches through only 4 innings, and he really only came out to pitch the 5th so that he could qualify for the win. It seemed like manager John Farrell tried to stick with Dempster for as long as he could, but the plan didn't work. Ryan Doumit led off with a double, and then the Twins manufactured a run by using a pair of ground outs by Plouffe and Arcia to bring Doumit home. It looked like Dempster might succeed in battling through 5 innings, but he issued his 6th walk of the game to Hicks, and then alternated stolen bases by Hicks and Pedro Florimon with singles by Florimon and Jamey Carroll to cut the lead to 2 and end his night. In came Clayton Mortensen, and although he gave up a single to Joe Mauer, he got Morneau to fly out to center field to end the threat with the lead intact.

It turned out that this was all the Red Sox needed, but they still added some insurance runs later in the game. David Ortiz added his second home run of the game in the 7th inning off Swarzak, and then later in the inning reliever Casey Fien gave up a home run to Daniel Nava that just made it into the flower beds over the right field scoreboard.

WP: Craig Breslow (1-0)

LP: Scott Diamond (3-4)

Studs

Jamey Carroll (2 for 4, BB, RBI), Joe Mauer (2 for 5, 2B, R), Justin Morneau (2 for 5, RBI), Ryan Doumit (2 for 4, BB, R), Pedro Florimon (2 for 4, R, 2 RBI)

Duds

Scott Diamond (4 1/3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 1 K), Anthony Swarzak (1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 BB)

Player of the Game

David Ortiz for going 3 for 4 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI.

Roll Call

1. SooFoo Fan, 52
2. kenzertz, 42
3. Desert Aaron, 10
4. DavidRF, 9
5. less cowbell, more 'neau, 7
6. kylek037, 6
7. Caleb A, 2
8. Gunnathor, 1
9. twinsbrewer, 1
10. You cannot have a Top 10 if there are not 10 items on the list, and such is the case tonight.

Win Expectancy

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2013-05-18&team=Twins&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2013-05-18&team=Twins&dh=0&season=2013">FanGraphs</a></span>