Minneapolis, MN – David Ortiz hit a two-run homer and drove in three, Mike Aviles had two doubles and a solo homer among his four hits, and the Red Sox blasted the Twins, 11-2, on Tuesday.
Aviles knocked in two runs and scored three times while Adrian Gonzalez finished 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI for the Red Sox, who had lost five straight before taking the first two games of this series. They will look for the sweep in Wednesday's finale.
Josh Beckett (2-2) earned the win, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks while striking out five over six innings.
"It was about the offense today," said Beckett. "They were on their game."
Josh Willingham had two doubles and an RBI for the Twins, who dropped their fourth straight game and fell to 5-13 on the season.
Nick Blackburn (0-2) was charged with five runs on eight hits over three innings in the loss. Reliever Matt Maloney also gave up five runs on eight hits while recording just five outs.
Boston set the tone with a three-run first inning. Aviles led off with a double and scored on Ryan Sweeney's single up the middle. With one down, Gonzalez placed runners at the corners with a base hit and Ortiz followed with an RBI single. A Kevin Youkilis single loaded the bases and Cody Ross pushed a run across with a groundout before Marlon Byrd was retired to end the inning.
In the bottom half, Jamey Carroll reached on a fielder's choice groundout and scored when Beckett issued three consecutive walks. The veteran righty prevented further damage by striking out Ryan Doumit and grounding out Danny Valencia.
"We had a good first inning but it didn't carry over after that," said Twins designated hitter Justin Morneau.
Ortiz followed Gonzalez's leadoff walk with a deep homer to right-center in the third and Aviles greeted Maloney with a solo shot in the fourth. Later in the inning, Gonzalez singled home Sweeney for a 7-1 lead.
The hits kept coming for the Red Sox, who pushed three runs across in the fifth courtesy of RBI doubles by Aviles, Dustin Pedroia and Gonzalez.
Willingham's two-bagger plated Carroll in the home half, making it 10-2, but the Twins failed to score again and Darnell McDonald sealed the final result with a bases-loaded RBI groundout in the eighth.
Game Notes
Ortiz has reached base safely in 15 of 16 games this season and has multiple hits in seven of his last 10 games...Blackburn hasn't recorded a win since July 8, 2011 at the White Sox. Since that win, he has gone 0-6 with five no- decisions in 11 starts.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.