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Red Sox seek to snap slide in clash with Twins

May 7, 2011 - 2:33 PM (Sports Network) - Losers of three straight, the Boston Red Sox try to turn the page on their recent woes this afternoon as they host the Minnesota Twins in the second of a four-game set at Fenway Park.

Boston, which has a losing record at home (8-9) and is winless in four tries against opponents from the American League Central so far this year, sustained a 9-2 setback on Friday in the first meeting of the season with Minnesota. With the setback the Sox remained in last place in the AL East and are now five games out of contention.

Danny Valencia and Denard Span each posted two hits and two RBI for the visiting Twins last night in the lopsided decision. Trevor Plouffe also tallied a pair of hits, one of them a home run, and scored three times as Minnesota, which is six games below .500 and in fourth place in the AL Central, won its third in a row after dropping six straight.

Scott Baker gave up seven hits and two runs with eight strikeouts over eight solid innings for Minnesota as he recorded his second win in four decisions.

Tim Wakefield lasted but 4 1/3 innings, charged with nine hits and eight runs -- six earned -- with four walks in just his second start of the campaign.

"I had a little trouble today," Wakefield noted. "I just couldn't find the strike zone."

J.D. Drew and Adrian Gonzalez each hit solo homers for the Red Sox in defeat.

Scheduled to take the hill for the Twins this afternoon is left-hander Brian Duensing, who will be attempting to bounce back from his lone setback of the short season.

Back on April 30 Duensing worked his way through seven innings against Kansas City on the road, allowing just two earned runs on eight hits, while striking out six and walking two, but eventually the squad bowed in an 11-2 decision. The former Nebraska Cornhusker has appeared in two games previously against the Boston Red Sox in his career, tossing just 2 1/3 innings, allowing one run and a pair of hits while striking out three.

Countering for the Sox today is five-year veteran Clay Buchholz, who is seeking to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season. Buchholz, who is coming off his most successful major league season (17-7), last pitched on Monday versus the Angels and allowed only two runs on eight hits over 6 2/3 innings as the team picked up a 9-5 victory. Buchholz, who has a record of 1-1 in his career versus Minnesota, walked two and struck out a pair as he watched his ERA dip below five for the first time in 2011.

Boston is catching a Twins team at a time when the AL Central squad is last in the division in hitting (.233), runs (98), home runs (14) and ERA (4.64). In fact, when it comes to power numbers, Minnesota is last in all of baseball with its paltry home run total and is the only team to have fewer than 100 runs scored at this stage. The squad's .328 slugging percentage is the worst in the AL and second-lowest to only San Diego (.324).

Boston hitters are in the middle of the pack when it comes to slugging (.386) thus far and if not for the efforts of Gonzalez during the last week with his two home runs and seven RBI, the numbers would be even more bleak for the proud franchise.

The pitching staff for the Red Sox has come up with three shutouts this season, yet somehow the group is still showing a collective 4.42 ERA through 32 games which has the squad ranked 11th in the AL.

Boston has won the season series with the Twins each of the last three years, but by only a combined margin of 11-7.