Red Sox Too Much For Twins 5-1
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — The Red Sox got to Carl Pavano in the sixth inning.
Pavano went 5 2/3 innings, giving up four runs and seven hits, with no walks and three strikeouts in a 5-1 loss to Boston. He is 0-3 with a 6.17 ERA in the spring.
"Great," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of Pavano's outing.
"Got his work in, 95 pitches, he was good. He got a little tired at the end. But it got up to where we wanted him to be. That's perfect."
Pavano, entering his 14th season, got through his first five innings with relative ease.
He was challenged in the fourth when the Red Sox loaded the bases. Adrian Gonzalez led off with a single, before Kevin Youkilis flied out. David Ortiz singled to left, and Pavano hit Cody Ross with a pitch to load the bases.
But Pavano struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia and got Ryan Sweeney to fly out to right to end the threat.
Chris Parmelee hit his fifth home run of the spring in the sixth inning to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.
The Red Sox then rallied in the bottom of the inning.
Youkilis led off, getting hit by a pitch and was replaced by pinch-runner Pedro Ciriaco.
David Ortiz struck out. With Ross batting, Ciriaco stole second and third, scoring on Ross' double.
Saltalamacchia grounded out with Ross going to third. Sweeney's single to left-center scored Ross. Sweeney scored on Mike Aviles' double to left, driving Pavano from the game.
He was replaced by Alex Burnett, who gave up a triple to Jacoby Ellsbury, scoring Aviles, but Ellsbury was thrown out trying to score on the play, ending the inning.
"I thought the inning with the bases loaded I threw a bunch of pitches and I think it tired me out," Pavano said.
"About the fifth inning the ball got up a little bit. I started off kind of slow then I caught a good rhythm, caught a good groove and carried it into the fourth and fifth inning and then I got a little tired and the ball got a little bit up. That last inning, I was all over the place."
This will be Pavano's second straight opening day start for the Twins.
"It's great," he said. "It's an honor from your organization, to feel like they want you to be the guy who starts them off two years in a row. It's also my job to go out there and start us off on the right foot."
Garrett Mock earned the win for the Red Sox. He threw two innings, allowing one run and one hit.
Dustin Pedroia and Gonzalez each went 2 for 4 with a double for the Red Sox.
Earlier in the day, the Twins made a series of roster moves, paring their roster down to 27, including two non-roster players.
"Good. I'm happy with everything the way it turned out," Gardenhire said. "Health-wise is good. Get through a few more days here and start playing ball. If we need to tweak it, we will tweak it. If we don't like something we see, we can change it because we have some pretty good people at AAA."
Notes: The Red Sox optioned catcher Ryan Lavarnway to Triple-A Pawtucket on Saturday. They have 40 players in big league camp, including 29 from the 40-man roster, two on the 60-day disabled list, and nine non-roster invitees. ... The Twins made a series of roster moves Sunday. Right-hander Casey Fien, catcher J.R. Towles, infielder Brian Dozier, and outfielder Brian Dinkelman were reassigned to minor league camp. The Twins have one player on the 15-day disabled list, pitcher Kyle Waldrop, and 27 players still in big league camp: 14 pitchers (one non-roster), two catchers, seven infielders (one non-roster) and four outfielders.
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