Twins 0 - 1 Red Sox
Final
  for this game

Twins, Red Sox hope to open set at Fenway

Jun 2, 2015 - 12:28 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox will try again to get a four-game series started at Fenway Park when the two ballclubs collide Tuesday night.

Monday's opener of this set was postponed because of rain and will be made up Wednesday as part of a day-night doubleheader. The first game is set for 1:35 p.m. et, with the regularly scheduled contest to be held at 7:10 p.m.

The Twins enter this series atop the AL Central Division, one-half game ahead of the Kansas City Royals, and have won 20 of their last 27 games. They won two of three meetings with the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend and posted a 6-5 win Sunday at Target Field.

Brian Dozier went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, while Torii Hunter delivered a two-run double in the seventh inning to help cap Minnesota's comeback. The Twins won 20 games in May, the best month since winning 22 in June of 1991.

"It's May 31 and I think we're going to change (Monday) to May 32 and see what happens," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "But we're staying in the moment. I'm not going to get too far ahead of myself. But it's a really good month. If you win 20 games, you're doing good things."

Mike Pelfrey gets the call for Molitor's club Tuesday and is 4-1 with a 2.77 ERA across nine starts. Pelfrey faced the Red Sox on Tuesday when he worked seven innings of one-run ball. The right-hander allowed five hits and notched four strikeouts against one walk.

The Twins are 7-2 when Pelfrey takes the hill.

Boston has lost three straight and nine of its last 12 games, including Sunday's 4-3 loss against the Texas Rangers in the finale of a four-game set.

Josh Hamilton's two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning propelled Texas to victory. Xander Bogaerts picked up three hits and an RBI, while Hanley Ramirez added two hits and drove in the other run for the Red Sox.

"Yeah, it's difficult," Sandoval said. "But you have to keep your head up. You have to keep fighting through tough moments. The good moments are coming, so you have to keep fighting."

The Red Sox are home for the next seven games and will play the Oakland Athletics later this week.

Taking the mound for Boston Tuesday will be Clay Buchholz. Buchholz was on the losing end of Tuesday's defeat to Minnesota, despite going 7-plus innings and giving up only two earned runs for the second consecutive outing. The righty allowed seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk as he dropped to 2-6.

"I didn't have much," Buchholz said. "I didn't have command of any one pitch. As the game went on, I found a couple pitches and was able to throw a couple strikes and make some big pitches in some big situations. As far as stuff goes, I feel like that's the worst that I've had."

Buchholz has allowed a total of only five earned runs over his past three starts but has no wins to show for it (0-2) as Boston's offense has continued to scuffle. He leads the staff with seven quality starts in 10 games this season, but the Red Sox are just 2-8 in games Buchholz has pitched.

The Twins were held to just two runs over the course of a three-game sweep the last time they visited Fenway in June of last season.






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