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Ramirez, Moss rally Red Sox past Twins

Jul 9, 2008 - 3:38 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- It only takes a few good at-bats to break Manny Ramirez out of a prolonged slump.

Ramirez clubbed a two-run homer and rookie Brandon Moss singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to cap a four-run rally that led the Boston Red Sox to a 6-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.

Mired in a 2-for-19 slump that culminated in a pinch-hit appearance against the New York Yankees Sunday night in which he struck out looking on three pitches, Ramirez went 2-for-4 in the series opener Monday - including providing the game-winning RBI on a single to right field. He snapped an eight-game homer drought with his 17th blast of the season Tuesday.

"It was a great lift, I don't think anyone was surprised to see it, he's done it so much through his career," Moss said of Ramirez's home run.

With Boston trailing, 5-2, entering the eighth, Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double to left field. He moved to third on Dustin Pedroia's single before scoring on J.D. Drew's groundout.

Ramirez followed and drove the first pitch he saw from righthander Matt Guerrier (4-4) into the left field seats to knot the score.

"You can't give in to Manny, no matter who it is. With that left field, if you throw a fastball up, he hits it out of the ballpark", Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That's just a bad pitch and now you have a tie ballgame, you've got to make him hit it out the other way if he's going to hit it out."

Kevin Youkilis delivered a two-out double and came in to score on Moss' second RBI of the night - a sharp single up the middle.

"I was just trying to get a good pitch and keep the inning going. Whether it was a walk or a hit, we had a lot of momentum going right there," Moss said.

"We had a terrific inning, a lot of good things happened that inning with Manny's home run, Mossy's good swing to get us in the position where we can win a game like that," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.

David Aardsma (3-2) picked up the win in relief of lefthander Jon Lester, who was charged with five runs and nine hits in 7 1/3 innings.

"You give up five runs and you know that if you keep them within striking distance, striking distance being four or five runs, you know you have a chance to win that game," Lester said. "That just shows how the offense can put together a base hit. (Pedroia) does a great job hitting the other way on a ball that bounces. Then Manny comes up and hits a big home run. It's great to be a pitcher on this team."

Jonathan Papelbon worked the ninth, striking out pinch-hitter Jason Kubel and retiring Alexi Casilla on a groundout with a runner on third to earn his 27th save of the season and the 99th of his career.

Boston's rally obscured a strong outing by Minnesota rookie Nick Blackburn, who allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

"He changed speeds, he moved the ball in and out, he used his breaking ball very well and kept them off balance," Gardenhire said.

Youkilis finished with three hits and scored a pair of runs for Boston, which improved to an American League-best 33-10 at home.