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Red Sox hope to rebound vs. Perkins, Twins

May 10, 2008 - 2:55 PM Boston (23-15) at Minnesota (18-16) 7:10 pm EDT

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Twins earned a walk-off win on Friday. They will look to make it two in a row when they host the Boston Red Sox in the second game of a four-game set on Saturday.

The Twins jumped out to an early lead Friday only to watch the powerful Red Sox storm back to take a 6-5 lead into the ninth inning.

But Minnesota chipped away at Jonathan Papelbon in its final turn at-bat, getting a single from Delmon Young and moving him to third on a sacrifice and a stolen base. After Carlos Gomez drew a walk - just the second free pass Papelbon had issued this season - and stole second base, Mike Lamb plated both runners with a bloop single down the left field line.

The bullpen of the Twins put together five scoreless innings despite not having one of their most important members, Pat Neshek. The righthander was placed on the disabled list Friday and will not be able to start throwing for at least three months with a torn ulnar collateral ligament.

Minnesota could also be without second baseman Brendan Harris, who left Friday's game in the sixth inning with a tight right hamstring. He went 2-for-3 with two RBI before departing.

Rookie Glen Perkins (NR) will make his season debut for Twins and first career start in the majors on Saturday. The lefthander made 23 appearances out of the bullpen in brief callups over the past two seasons, posting a 2.88 ERA while limiting opponents to a .218 batting average.

Perkins went 2-1 with a 2.97 ERA in seven games - six starts - for Class AAA Rochester this season.

The Red Sox will counter with righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka (5-0, 2.43 ERA). The Japanese hurler struggled through five innings Monday at Detroit, walking eight batters but allowed just one run and two hits to earn the win.

Boston is 7-0 in games started by Matsuzaka this season. The righthander has held opponents to a .158 batting average, offsetting the 27 walks he has allowed 40 2/3 innings.