Twins 6, Red Sox 1
BOSTON -- Scott Diamond's first start against Boston was certainly one to remember.
Diamond pitched seven shutout innings, Ryan Doumit hit his first home run of the season and the Minnesota Twins beat the Red Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.
Diamond (3-2) was dazzling in his first start at Fenway Park, allowing just three hits -- all singles -- before retiring the final 15 batters he faced. The southpaw struck out two without a walk and never allowed a runner to advance past first base as Minnesota won for just the third time in its last eight games.
The Red Sox, who have lost four of their last five games, singled to begin each of the first three innings, but they didn't reach base again until Jarrod Saltalamacchia opened the ninth with a home run off Josh Roenicke.
After doubling and scoring the first run in the fifth inning, Doumit belted his first home run since Sept. 29 with one out in the seventh, depositing a 2-2 fastball from Ryan Dempster into the first row of seats atop the Green Monster for a 2-0 lead.
Three errors in the eighth allowed Minnesota to blow the game open.
Third baseman Pedro Ciriaco, who replaced an injured Will Middlebrooks in the seventh, made back-to-back blunders on grounders by Brian Dozier and Jamey Carroll. Minnesota didn't wait long to capitalize, as Joe Mauer plated Dozier with a double down the left-field line and consecutive singles by Justin Morneau and Trevor Plouffe stretched the lead to 5-0.
A throwing error by Saltalamacchia led to another run. He was a defensive replacement for catcher David Ross, who left the game in the fifth inning after colliding with Middlebrooks on a foul pop-up.
Diamond outdueled Dempster, who was more than impressive himself. Dempster (2-3) allowed four runs -- two earned -- on five hits over seven-plus innings, striking out eight and walking one.
Dempster breezed through the first four innings, allowing two singles while striking out four of the first nine batters he faced.
The fifth inning wasn't as smooth, though.
Doumit doubled to right to begin the inning, moved to third on a balk by Dempster and scored on Wilkin Ramirez's sharp single up the middle.
David Ortiz singled to lead off the second, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 27 games dating to July 2. Big Papi's power surge matches the longest stretch in Red Sox history, tying Manny Ramirez's 27-game run in 2006.
NOTES: Ross left the game in the top of the fifth with a left quadriceps contusion. Middlebrooks eventually left with right side pain. ... Minnesota has gone 10 straight games without committing an error, its longest streak of the season and longest since an 11-game stretch from July 20-31, 2010. ... Patty Campbell, the mother of Krystle Campbell, who was killed in the bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon last month, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. ... Morneau's second-inning single moved him past Torii Hunter and into eighth place on the Twins' career hit list, with 1,218.
