• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Red Sox eye four-game split vs. Twins

May 12, 2008 - 1:01 PM Boston (24-16) at Minnesota (19-17) 7:05 pm EDT

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - The Boston Red Sox are hoping a night off for Manny Ramirez will awaken his bat.

The Red Sox eye a four-game split with the Minnesota Twins when the teams meet in the series finale on Monday.

A sore hamstring kept Ramirez out of the lineup in Sunday's 9-8 loss to Minnesota, although he did appear as a pinch hitter with the tying run on base in the ninth inning. However, the 11-time All-Star's hard-hit grounder settled right into the glove of shortstop Adam Everett, who threw on to first to end the threat.

After slugging six homers through April 19, Ramirez appeared well on his way to becoming the 24th player in major league history to reach 500 career home runs. Since that day, he has hit just one more home run over the next 19 games, leaving him at 497.

Ramirez is likely to be in the lineup Monday as the Red Sox attempt to figure out Livan Hernandez (5-1, 3.83 ERA), who will try to continue his amazing run. In the American League after spending 13 years in the National League, Hernandez has yielded more than three runs in just two of his starts this season.

The righthander posted his first complete game of the season on Wednesday, allowing nine hits in a 13-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.

The Red Sox will counter with Clay Buchholz (2-2, 4.50), who will be looking to overcome one of his worst starts of the season. The righthander surrendered five runs and 10 hits in just four frames during Wednesday's 10-9 loss to Detroit.