Twins Vs. Red Sox: Carl Crawford Lifts Boston To Win In 11th

The Minnesota Twins haven't exactly been in a great place lately. Neither have the Boston Red Sox. But the Red Sox are in a better place now, as a 2-1 extra-innings win Monday night gave them three wins in the four-game series.

With Nick Blackburn going up against Josh Beckett, this one didn't feature much in the way of action for quite some time. Through four and a half, the game was scoreless. But the Red Sox broke through in the bottom of the fifth, when Jason Varitek led off with a double, advanced to third, and scored on a single by Adrian Gonzalez. The RBI was Gonzalez's 25th of the season.

Boston's 1-0 lead held into the eighth, as the Twins couldn't make hay of baserunners in the sixth and seventh. However, in that eighth, Denard Span singled and advanced to second on a balk by Alfredo Aceves, and he scored when Jason Kubel knocked a two-out RBI single off Jonathan Papelbon. Alexi Casilla then pinch-ran for Kubel and put himself in scoring position, but Justin Morneau struck out to end the rally and leave the game tied.

Even at 1-1, both teams would threaten. The Twins put two on in the top of the tenth, and the Red Sox put two on in the bottom, with Dustin Pedroia drilling a one-out double. But the tenth went by scoreless before the Twins again put two on in the 11th.

Neither Ben Revere nor Rene Rivera could come up with a big hit, though, sending the game to the bottom half. And there, Carl Crawford decided he didn't want to play anymore. With pinch-runner Jose Iglesias standing on first base (in just his second major-league game), Crawford faced Jim Hoey and lifted a high fly ball off the Monster, sending Iglesias racing around the bases and into home just ahead of the throw for the game-winning run.

At 12-21, the Twins return home to begin a set against the Tigers. The 17-18 Red Sox will try to reach .500 when they visit the Blue Jays.