Twins starter Glen Perkins, making his 1st Major League start, began strong, but could not make it out of the 7th, and the Twins lost 5-2. The Twins problem was keeping the Red Sox from hitting home runs, as the 4 solo shots were the team’s downfall.
The Twins were once again unable to muster much offense after scoring plenty of runs the previous game. Carlos Gomez drew a bases loaded walk in the 2nd and Justin Morneau drove in Matt Tolbert in the 5th with a single. Joe Mauer went without a hit in what seems like forever.
Perkins was solid through 6 innings, giving up only the first solo homer to Kevin Youkilis. However, he gave up back-to-back solo blasts to Coco Crisp and Jed Lowrie to start the seventh. The 3 homers overshadowed was was a pretty decent first start for Perkins. The last of the 4 homers was given up by Brian Bass in the 8th. To make matters worst, setup man Pat Neshek might be out for the rest of the season.
The Twins have had some problems this season sustaining momentum after big games. Their thrilling comeback win last night could not be repeated tonight. However, they have won 7 of their past 10, so there is something to build on. The team has 2 more games with Boston and achieving a 4 game series split could be considered a success against the defending champs.
