For awhile, it looked like the Twins were going to break out of their funk against the Red Sox on Monday at Target Field. After spotting the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, Minnesota scored three in the bottom, thanks to some timely hitting by Jason Kubel and Jim Thome, and two Boston errors.
Scott Baker was in the middle of a great outing, getting 9 of 10 batters out from the third through the fifth inning. And with the Twins adding a single run in the fourth on a Jason Kubel home run and an RBI double by Joe Mauer in the fifth, the Twins had a commanding 5-1 lead entering the sixth.
Oh, that terrible, horrible, sixth inning. Scott Baker fell apart, giving up home runs to David Ortiz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and the Red Sox scored four runs to tie the game. Baker was pulled, and it seemed inevitable that the Twins would find some way to lose this game.
And they did, as Joe Nathan couldn’t get one out to get the Twins out of a jam in the top of the ninth, and the Red Sox pushed two runs across and won 8-6.
Jonathan Papelbon came in and pitched a scoreless bottom on the 9th to earn his 25th save.