Minneapolis, MN – David Ortiz smacked a pair of homers against his former team and accounted for six RBI, as the Boston Red Sox topped the Minnesota Twins, 12-5, at Target Field.
Daniel Nava added a two-run blast and drove in three for the Red Sox, who won their fourth straight game.
Ryan Dempster labored through 4 2/3 innings by throwing 127 pitches. The right-hander allowed eight hits, six walks and five runs.
"He had a hard time keeping his fastball down in the strike zone. He found a way to navigate through some things," Red Sox manager John Farrell said of Dempster.
Craig Breslow (1-0) threw 1 2/3 shutout frames to get credit for the win.
Scott Diamond (3-4) yielded eight hits and six runs over 4 1/3 innings and Pedro Florimon had a pair of RBI for the Twins, losers of four in a row.
"He was pretty much behind and up in the zone and was unable to make adjustments," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of Diamond. "He couldn't get the ball where he wanted to. It was a tough night there."
Ortiz, who played his first six seasons in the majors for the Twins, is hitting .332 with 15 homers and 43 RBI in 53 games against his former club.
A big defensive play in the game came after the Twins loaded the bases in the sixth inning. Minnesota trailed 7-5 at the time. Aaron Hicks popped out to second baseman Dustin Pedroia, whose throw to the plate was in time to get Ryan Doumit. Catcher Ryan Lavarnway absorbed the blow at home.
Ortiz homered to right-center with Pedroia aboard in the seventh and Nava went deep off Casey Fien to the same part of the field later in the frame for an 11-5 cushion.
Ortiz walked in the ninth and scored on Lavarnway's sacrifice fly.
Ortiz smacked a three-run homer to right-center in the opening inning, but Florimon singled in a run in the second.
Jonny Gomes came home on Ortiz's line-drive base hit to right in the third before the Twins got within 4-2 in the fourth on Justin Morneau's RBI hit. Joe Mauer, who sat out Friday's game due to a stiff back, extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a double into the left field corner prior to Morneau's hit.
Each team scored three times in the fifth with Pedroia's RBI double highlighting Boston's half of the frame. Florimon and Jamey Carroll singled in runs for the Twins in the bottom portion.
Game Notes
Ortiz now has 408 career homers, moving past Duke Snider (407) into 49th place on the all-time list. He also has five homers in 10 games at Target Field. He has 38 multi-homer games with the Red Sox. That's the most in team history, surpassing Ted Williams, who had 37. Pedroia has a 10-game hitting streak ... Boston is 8-3 at Target Field since it opened in 2010.
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