By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff

TORONTO - The Red Sox could have made it to .500 for the first time this season, but instead bowed to the Blue Jays, 7-6, in 10 innings.

Both starter Jon Lester and catcher Jason Varitek shouldered the blame for the loss.

Lester's blamed his long first inning when he allowed three runs and got distracted by close calls that didn't go his way from home plate umpire Paul Emmel. Varitek blamed himself for not nailing Rajai Davis on a stolen base after a pitch out in the 10th inning with Matt Albers on the mound, bouncing a throw to Jose Iglesias rather than getting it in the air. Davis then stole third and rode home on rookie David Cooper's walkoff sac fly.

"We had the pitch-out I wasn't able to throw him out," Varitek said. "I don't know what to say. I wasn't able to throw him out. We knew he was going to run, so in that case it hurt us and I'll take the blame. I sure will."

Francona concurred with Varitek's conclusion.

"If we get the ball in air to second base we got him because we had a pitch out. Then Bogie (third base coach Tim Bogar) was trying to get Iggy's (Iglesias) attention to hold him on more. Davis has the ability to do it. Johnny (Farrell) is letting him do it. Maybe inexperience on Iggy's part not getting tight enough certainly changes the way you have to defend," Francona said..

Davis had an interesting night on the base paths in that he legged out a triple in the third inning and then got picked off when he was hung up between home and third when Yunel Escobar missed a squeeze signal. Davis had dashed down the line and couldn't get himself back to third in time.

Lester kicked himself for a first inning in which he let his emotions get the best of him.

"The first inning was magnified because I gave up three runs. All in all it wasn't very good. Bullpen needed a break and I didn't do a good job going deep into the game. Just got to find a way to do a better job than what I did," he said.

Asked about the close ball-strike calls he said, "Yeah, but I mean, not missing by much is the interpretation of the guy behind the plate. I have to do a better job controlling my emotions and worrying about the next pitch. I didn't do a very good job. I let it get to me and it went longer than it should because of that."

Lester was upset because the offense - particularly two homers by Adrian Gonzalez to left field - including the one which gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning - "did a great job keeping us in the ballgame. Adrian had a great game. But I decided I didn't do a good enough job shutting down innings that we needed to have. That was big when Adrian hits a two-run homer to take lead and I didn't do a good job keeping it there. I wasted a good offensive night for these guys."

The Sox had won three straight while the Blue Jays had played terribly against the Tigers over the weekend. The Sox certainly had enough offense with 16 hits and six runs. Besides Gonzalez, David Ortiz homered, his fifth, off Kyle Drabek in the fourth inning. But Sox pitching couldn't keep down the Jays' power.

Jose Bautista hit his 11th homer off Lester in the fifth. Catcher J.P. Arencibia also homered and David Cooper, who won the game, hit his first major league homer off Daniel Bard in the eighth inning to give the Blue Jays a 6-5 lead before Gonzalez tied it up off Frank Francisco in the ninth.

Game over: Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 6, 10 innings

Had just turned to colleague Mike Vega before Rajai Davis came up and said, "He needs to win the game for the Jays after that bonehead running play when he got caught between third and home in the fourth inning."

Davis was the victim of a missed squeeze on that play by Yunel Escobar. Davis and the Jays more than made up for it. Davis singled to center, stole second on a pitch-out and stole third right after that. He rode home on David Cooper's sac fly to win the game. Jason Varitek was catching and Matt Albers was pitching. But Davis stole both bases outright..

Top 10th: Jays 6, Red Sox 6

Really thought AGon would hit No. 3 there. Hit ball hard to left for an out with Pedroia on board. By the way, 17,820 fans here. That's awful.

Top 9th: Jays 6, Red Sox 6

Frank Francisco just blew his first save of the season, He was 2-for-2. AGon has hit his second homer to left field. He's got six on the season. Jose Iglesias got his first major league at-bat - reached base on a strikeout, wild pitch by Francisco, who struck out Crawford to strand two baserunners. Matt Albers is on in the bottom of the 9th..

Bottom 8th: Jays 6, Red Sox 5

Daniel Bard has given up a solo homer to David Cooper. That's right, David Cooper. His first career home run. The infielder came on to replace Yunel Escobar as a pinch-runner after Escobar suffered a lower left leg contusion after being hit with a pitch by Jon Lester in the 6th inning. Cooper was on an 0-for-11 streak. Cooper was a No. 1 draft pick of the Jays (17th overall) in 2008. He was hitting .395 in Triple-A Las Vegas with two homers and 19 RBI before his call-up on April 29th. He got his first major league hit May 1 vs. the Yankees.

Because of injuries the Jays are really down to one player on their bench - Jose Molina. Adam Lind has had back issues and the team is trying to decide whether or not to send him to the DL. Daniel Bard

Top 8th: Jays 5, Red Sox 5

Clutch two-out hit by Jarrod Saltalamacchia hitting righthanded. It knocks in pinch runner Jose Iglesias, who ran for Jed Lowrie after he doubled to lead off the inning. Ellsbury followed with his third hit, a single. McDonald is running for Salty at second. So we'll have Varitek catching and Iglesias at shortstop. Jon Rauch in to pitch for Jays with two out and two on. Pedroia grounded to third to end the threat.

Bottom 7th: Jays 5, Red Sox 4

Nice job by Richie Hill. 1-1/3 scoreless innings. Balkmaster Alfredo Aceves came on and plunked Juan Rivera off the left shoulder, walked Arencibia and McDonald (great at-bat) to load the bases. Up came Rajai Davis, he of getting thrown out between third and home fame. On the second pitch from Aceves, Davis lined out to right to end the threat.

Top 7th: Jays 5, Sox 4

Golden opportunity gone. First and third one out, David Ortiz up. The big fella knocked into a 1-5-3 (Ortiz shift was on) double-play. Ortiz had just fouled a ball off his foot, so he wasn't swift down the line to avoid it. Not that he could have anyway.

Bottom 6th: Jays 5, Red Sox 4

Catcher JP Arencibia stroked a 1-2 breaking ball over the left field wall to give the Jays the lead. Arencibia's fifth homer. Not Lester's night. He departed with one out in the sixth after hitting Escobar with a pitch, his 114th of the night. Escobar was hit off the left foot with a breaking pitch and had to leave the game. Rich Hill came on. Lester allowed seven hits and, so far, five runs. The Jays really got his pitch count up quickly being very patient and fouling off a lot of pitches. Must say, I was surprised to see Hill stay in to face Bautista, but he got him to ground out to short stop to end the inning. Hill retired both batters he faced - got Patterson to fly deep to center.

Top 6th: Red Sox 4, Jays 4

Strong inning for Jays reliever Jason Frasor who struck out the side (Crawford, Salty and Ellsbury).

Bottom of 5th: Red Sox 4, Jays 4

One of the best righthanded sluggers in the game - Jose Bautista - blistered a 2-2 Lester fastball over the left field fence to tie the game. It's Bautista's 11th home run. You can see why the Red Sox tried to trade for him this offseason before acquiring Carl Crawford. He would have been perfect. He entered the game with a .524 on base percentage, the best in baseball. He has the fourth best OBP through 35 games in the American League since 1946. Paul O'Neill of the 1994 Yanks was .563, Ted Williams of the 1957 Red Sox and 1946 Red Sox was .540 and .533 respectively..,

Top 5th: Red Sox 4, Jays 3

Adrian Gonzalez banged a two-run homer to left field - his 5th - with Pedroia on board on a 1-0 pitch by Drabek. Ortiz singled for his third hit, one triple from the cycle.

Bottom 4th: Jays 3, Red Sox 2

Is this why they are, as Dan Shaughnessy used to call them, the Blow Jays? Talk about boneheaded plays. Rajaii Davis is fortunate enough to bang a triple to the leftcenter gap on a ball that Crawford tried to make a diving play on and missed. He's on third base, and sure, you're always tempted, if you have Davis' elite speed, to steal home against someone like Lester who is lefthanded with his back turned to you and slow to the plate. What we don't know is was Davis really serious about stealing home? He ran hard halfway down the line and then....stopped. (Could have been a missed squeeze). Saltalamacchia had him dead and he threw to Youkilis at third who applied the tag. Would love to hear the conversation between Davis and Jays manager John Farrell on that one.

Top 4th: Jays 3, Red Sox 2

David Ortiz brings the Sox to within a run with a long drive over the center field fence, his fifth homer and 17th RBI, Ortiz has also doubled. Ortiz has 7 RBI in his last 10 games. The mounted a secondary rally in the inning with two outs with Crawford reaching on an error by first baseman Edwin Encarnacion and Saltalamacchia working a walk. Ellsbury, who remains red hot, singled through the shortstop hole. Crawford, trying to score from second base was gunned down on a nice throw by left fielder Corey Patterson. Should Crawford have been sent with two outs? Obviously, he has great speed, but the ball wasn't hit too deeply to left. Tough call for third base coach Tim Bogar.

Bottom 3rd: Jays 3, Red Sox 1

Jays had runners at second and third with one out and Lester pitches his way out of it. Patterson singled and with one out, Encarnacion lined a vicious ground-rule double to left that kicked into the stands. Lester got a big out when Hill popped out to shortstop, Juan Rivera walked to load the bases. Lester fell behind 2-1 on JP Arencibia, but got the young catcher to ground to Gonzalez at first base for the final out. Lester has labored with his control, but so far has been able to limit the damage.

Bottom 2nd: Jays 3, Red Sox 1

Much crisper inning for Lester, 1-2-3.

Top 2nd: Jays 3, Red Sox 1

Carl Crawford extended his hitting streak to 10 games and knocked in David Ortiz with Boston's first run. Ortiz led off with a double to rightcenter and Drew singled him to third base. Lowrie and Saltalamacchia both struck out and Ellsbury sent a deep drive to center that was tracked down by Rajai Davis.

Bottom 1st: Jays 3, Red Sox 0

Ugly inning for Jon Lester. With umpire Paul Emmel behind the plate, Lester walked three of the first four batters. Edwin Encarnacion's bases loaded walk got one run in. He also allowed a single to Corey Patterson. Aaron Hill's grounder to short got the second run in and Adrian Gonzalez dropped a pop up in short rightfield (on which he did force the runner at second base) allowing the third run to cross.

Top 1st: Red Sox 0, Jays 0

An absolutely dreadful crowd here. So sad compared to the heyday in the early 1990s. Jacoby Ellsbury wasted little time in extending his hitting streak to 19 games with a single to right field off Jays phenom Kyle Drabek. He's now 30-for-80 during the streak. He also stole second base. After Dustin Pedroia walked, Ellsbury was picked off second base on a nice timing play between Drabek and Yunel Escobar. Both Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis struck out and Drabek squirmed out of it.

The dome is currently closed at Rogers Centre as the Blue Jays are taking batting practice here at the beginning of a two-game series between the Red Sox and Blue Jays. This is a six-day, five-game road trip which travels to New York for a three-game series starting next Friday.

Quiet news day as the Red Sox have reshuffled the deck a tad on their starting rotation for the Yankees series. Clay Buchholz will oppose Bartolo Colon on Friday, Josh Beckett will go against CC Sabathia on Saturday and Jon Lester, who will also pitch tonight will oppose Freddy Garcia. No Daisuke Matsuzaka.

He'll go vs. Baltimore.

"When we get back (to Boston) it'll be Daisuke, Lackey, Buch. We're giving Daisuke a couple of extra days because we're trying to spread out a couple of guys and also lining up for how it seems to make sense. Trying to kill a bunch of birds with one stone. We talked to Dice yesterday just so he knew that way he could prepare with Curt and we're OK from there," Francona said.

Is the rest good for him?

"It was a bit of a unique week," Francona said. "There was a lot of pushing and pulling. We didn't know what was going on and so that not only sets us up for the week the way we want to be moving forward, so I think we can accomplish a lot of things with this."

Jacoby Ellsbury's 18-game hitting streak is on the line tonight.

Josh Beckett's second straight scoreless outing Monday was the 9th scoreless outing by a Sox starter, which is tops in the Major Leagues. The Sox also have a 2.35 ERA in their last 10 road games.

Tim Wakefield is 44 years, 281 days old today and is the oldest active ML player. His next appearance will make him the oldest player to ever play in a game for the Red Sox, passing Deacon McGuire, who was 44 years, 280 days in his last game on August 24, 1908.

We'll have more in a few minutes.

Here are the lineups:

RED SOX (17-18)
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Youkilis 3B
Ortiz DH
Drew RF
Lowrie SS
Crawford LF
Saltalamacchia C

Pitching: LHP Jon Lester (4-1, 2.33)

BLUE JAYS (15-20)
Escobar SS
Patterson LF
Bautista RF
Encarnacion 1B
Hill 2B
Rivera DH
Arencibia C
McDonald 3B
Davis CF

Pitching: RHP Kyle Drabek (2-2, 4.50)

Game time: 7:07 p.m.

TV/Radio: NESN / WEEI

Notes: The Sox have won three straight, six of nine and 15 of 23. The Blue Jays have lost three straight and seven of nine. ... The Sox start the day 3.5 games out of first place. ... Lester is 8-4, 3.30 in 14 career starts against the Jays, 4-3, 3.60 in eight games at the Rogers Centre. Lester allowed one earned run in six innings against Toronto at Fenway Park on April 17. ... Ellsbury has hit safely in 18 straight games and Crawford in nine straight. ... The Sox are 6-9 on the road.

Stat of the Day: Adrian Gonzalez has multi-hit games in 14 of the 35 games this season. He has hit safely in 14 of the last 15 games at 24 of 62 (.387) with 15 RBI. He starts the day tied for ninth in baseball with 25 RBIs.

Rotation shift: The Sox will pitch Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett and Lester against the Yankees this weekend and push Daisuke Matsuzaka back. The Yankees will counter with Bartolo Colon, CC Sabathia and Freddy Garcia.

Song of the Day: "Fly By Night" by Rush.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

Alfredo Aceves is a talented pitcher. He has allowed only 113 hits over 139.1 career innings with 33 walks and 94 strikeouts There aren't too many guys out there with a career 3.17 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP.

Part of his being good is being stubborn and a little arrogant. Aceves firmly believes he should be a major league starter and that if he were, he would be a good one. But there comes a time when being stubborn intersects with being stupid. That happened last night.

Aceves was called for a balk in the eighth inning with the Red Sox up 1-0. It moved Dennard Span to second base and he scored from there on a broken-bat single by Jason Kubel off Jonathan Papelbon.

Aceves was trying to keep Span close when he was called for the balk by umpire Angel Hernandez. He set his feet in what looked like a wind-up position then shifted to a stretch position. He got away with it once but not a second time.

(Tim Britton of the Providence Journal explained the technicalities well over on their blog.)

When Hernandez made the call, he called Terry Francona out to explain. Francona didn't argue. The Red Sox knew what Aceves was doing was wrong and they've been trying to break him of it. It was the second time in as many appearances that Aceves was called for a balk.

"(Hernandez) was probably right. I don't know why he didn't call it on the first (pitch). We were trying to get (Aceves') attention on the first pitch, and when they didn't call it, we thought we were OK," Francona said.

Aceves was demonstrative afterward, literally going through his motion in the clubhouse to try and explain what he did and why he didn't think he was wrong. The move, he said, was something he picked from watching former Yankees minor league teammate Eric Hacker.

"I don't understand what I'm doing wrong," he said. "I'm trying to hold the runner. But they told me it's wrong. I guess I have to change."

The Sox won the game. The question now becomes whether Aceves can be trusted not to get creative at the wrong time again. The balk rule is convoluted. But when your team tells you to knock it off, you knock it off.

"We've got to get Aceves to quit doing that. He did it in spring training," said Francona, who noted that pitching coach Curt Young spoke to Aceves. "We don't want to invite (or) ever give somebody a chance to call something."

The Yankees nontendered Aceves last December, in part, because he was somewhat of a pain in the posterior. He's a quirky guy, quick to anger and not quite mindful that he has only parts of three seasons in the big leagues and isn't an All-Star.

I personally think Aceves genuinely wants to win and is doing what he thinks he right. He's not a bad guy based on my experiences with him. But there comes a time when you have to do what you're told by your boss.

The alternative is pitching in Pawtucket — or looking for a job.

In case you missed it, Kevin Cullen wrote a column today about Jonathan and Ashley Papelbon helping out a New Jersey family whose son was injured in New Hampshire.

Check it out. It'll make you smile.

------------

In another good deed, Red Sox team sponsor Nestlé Waters donated 100,000 bottles of water to help the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan. Daisuke Matsuzaka thanked Nestlé on the field before the game last night.

Tonight: LHP Jon Lester (4-1, 2.33) vs. RHP Kyle Drabek (2-2, 4.50), 7:07 p.m., NESN

Wednesday: RHP John Lackey (2-4, 7.16) vs. RHP Jesse Litsch (3-2, 4.04), 7:07 p.m., NESN

Carl Crawford had another walk-off as the Red Sox beat the Twins.

Josh Beckett didn't get the win but continued to pitch well for the Sox. Michael Vega has the story.

The notebook has Jonathan Papelbon pitching well despite blowing the save last night.

Video includes postgame comments from manager Terry Francona and starting pitcher Josh Beckett.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

Carl Crawford was a heck of a football player at Jefferson Davis High in Houston, so good that Nebraska offered him a scholarship.

Crawford choose baseball, a much safer sport to play. But he may need to dig up his old pads if the walk-off hits keep coming.

For the second time in nine days, Crawford delivered for the Red Sox with a double high off the wall in left center to score Jose Iglesias from first base with the winning run in a 2-1 game against the Twins.

Kevin Youkilis chased down Crawford and tackled him with a hit worthy of Jerod Mayo.

"Youk got me pretty good and then all the rest of them got me," Crawford said. "I just tried not to get hurt in a scuffle like that."

Crawford hit .155 in April. But he is 13 of 36 (.361) in May and 18 of 59 (.305) over his last 15 games with seven extra-base hits. Day-by-day, he is becoming that star player the Sox knew they signed in December.

“Where I came from I didn't have a clue, now I have one. It's like night and day a little bit,” Crawford said. “It's still a process and hopefully I can continue to get better over time.”

The game-winner tonight was a great example of how far Crawford has come this season. An aggressive hitter, Crawford worked the count full before taking a swing at a low fastball from Jim Hoey. He drove the ball through a stiff wind that was blowing in. It takes a strong man to go the other way with a pitch like that in those conditions.

As to other stuff:

• Jose Iglesias scored the winning run after pinch running for Jed Lowrie. The rookie, on base for the first time at Fenway, paused a second watching the flight of Crawford's ball before taking off running.

“I think as Iggy is here more, it’ll probably be a little easier to read that ball off the wall. He probably didn’t get out as far as he could of,” Terry Francona said. “But he was probably running as fast as he’ll ever run.”

Tell you what, having a 21-year-old kid around is good for this team. Iglesias will bring some vitality and energy as long as he's here.

After he spoke to reporters and dressed, Iglesias carried three large plastic bags of beer out to the bus for his teammates. He may be a top prospect and the shortstop of the future, but tradition demands that the new kid in town carries the brews.

• Hideki Okajima allowed two hits and two walks in two innings and threw a career-high 43 pitches. But he didn't give up a run and got the win. “I felt good today,” Okajima said through an interpreter. “I was just making sure that I hit the corners and made sure they didn’t hit a home run off of me. I think I did a good job.”

• Josh Beckett's last six starts: 40.1 innings, 22 hits, 7 earned runs. Reports of his demise were premature. Beckett has a 1.99 ERA on the season. His next start will probably be against the Yankees this weekend. That will be a great test of how he's doing.

• Jonathan Papelbon blew his first save. But he threw a low splitter that broke the bat of Jason Kubel. That the ball parachuted into center field wasn't his fault. You'd take that same pitch and same location every time.

• This streak business is getting serious for Jacoby Ellsbury. That's 18 straight games, the longest active streak in the majors and second-longest in the AL this season to Alex Gordon, who had a 19-gamer for the Royals.

In the big scheme of things, hitting streaks don't mean much. That Ellsbury is hitting .291 with a .345 OBP is what matters.

• The Sox are 3.5 games out of first. In the bunched-together AL East, going worst to first can take about a week. The Sox are 15-8 in their last 23 games.

The Sox are on the road tomorrow. Check back then for reports from Toronto.

Final: Red Sox 2, Twins 1 (11 innings)

Carl Crawford hit a wall-ball double off Twins reliever Jim Hoey to drive in pinch-runner Jose Iglesias with the winning run in a 2-1 victory over the Twins in 11 innings tonight before a Fenway Park crowd of 37,276 in a game that lasted 3 hours 55 minutes.

It was Crawford's eighth walk-off hit of his career and second this season with the Red Sox.

It made a winner of Hideki Okajima, who threw a career-high 43 pitches over two innings, as the Sox completed an 11-game homestand with a 6-5 record after winning for the third time in a row over the Twins.

Top of 11th: Red Sox 1, Twins 1

Okajima extricates himself from another jam with two baserunners in scoring position, striking out Rene Rivera (swinging). Okie has now thrown a career-high 43 pitches over two innings. LHP Rich Hill is warming up for the Sox. Jim Hoey is now in the game for the Twins.

Bottom of 10th: Red Sox 1, Twins 1

Dustin Pedroia got the rally going when he hit a one-out double down the line to left. He advanced to third on Adrian Gonzalez's ground out to second, prompting the Twins to intentionally walk Kevin Youkilis, putting men on the corners for Ortiz, who stranded the runners when he grounded to second for the third out. The Red Sox have left 10 men on base and are 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Top of 10th: Red Sox 1, Twins 1

With one out, the Twins threatened when they put two men aboard. Luke Hughes grinded out a nine-pitch at-bat to draw a walk from Okajima. Denard Span hit a comebacker to the mound that caromed off Okajima's glove back toward the first base line, enabling Span to reach and Hughes to advance. Okajima wiggled out of the jam by striking out Matt Tolbert (77, curveball) and getting Alexi Casilla to hit a grounder to third for the force out at third. The top of the order is due up for the Sox: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez.

Bottom of 9th: Red Sox 1, Twins 1

With two out and the game tied, the Sox put a runner on base when Varitek reached on a throwing error by Twins second baseman Luke Hughes. Darnell McDonald entered as a pinch-runner for Varitek, but wound up getting caught stealing in a 1-3-6-3-4 rundown that prematurely ended the potential rally. Hideki Okajima will pitch the 10th for Papelbon (1.1 innings, 1 hit, 1 strikeout).

Top of 9th: Red Sox 1, Twins 1

Plate umpire Joe West (the crew chief) ejected Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, who came out of the visitors' dugout to argue a called strike on Danny Valencia's checked swing. Valencia wound up flying to right, as did Michael Cuddyer. Ben Revere lined out to third as the Twins went down in order. Jose Mijares will pitch the ninth for the Twins.

Bottom of 8th: Red Sox 1, Twins 1

Sox go down in order. It'll be up to Papelbon to hold the Twins down in the ninth.

Top of 8th: Red Sox 1, Twins 1

Aceves was called for a balk for the second time in the series by first base umpire Angel Hernandez. This time, however, it did not cost the Sox a run; it only advanced the speedy Denard Span (who reached on a basehit) to second base. Interestingly, Hernandez summoned Francona from the dugout to explain his call. Hernandez, you'll recall, ejected Francona from the game in the second inning of Friday's 9-2 loss to the Twins for arguing a balk on Tim Wakefield. After Aceves got Matt Tolbert to pop to third, Francona summoned Jonathan Papelbon to get the last out of the inning. As he walked off the mound, Aceves (2/3-innings, 1 run, 1 hit, 1 balk) glared at Hernandez as he walked back all the way to the dugout. Jason Kubel hit an RBI single to shallow right-center scoring Span with the tying run before Papelbon struck out Justin Morneau (95-fastball) to end the inning. Due up for the Sox in the 8th: Youkilis, Ortiz, Drew.

Bottom of 7th: Red Sox 1, Twins 0

Varitek led off with a single to right. It was the second time in as many at-bats he had reached on a hit. His fifth-inning double was the 299th of his career. After Ellsbury flew to center, Pedroia walked, but Gonzalez hit into an inning-ending double play. Beckett has departed the game, having thrown seven scoreless innings, allowing six hits, 1 walk and recording 5 strikeouts. He threw 103 pitches (70 strikes). Alfredo Aceves will pitch in the eighth.

Middle of 7th: Red Sox 1, Twins 0

Beckett's 100th pitch of the night resulted in a ground ball by Ben Revere that Dustin Pedroia converted into a 4-6-3 double play. And on his 103d pitch, Beckett got Rene Rivera to fan at a 76-curveball.

Middle of 6th: Red Sox 1, Twins 0

In case you were wondering, it's been 41 starts since Beckett last recorded a shutout, the fourth of his career. He last did so July 12, 2009, in a 6-0 win over Bruce Chen and the Kansas City Royals. While he has thrown six scoreless innings so far -- allowing just five hits -- it's not likely Beckett will be required to go the distance. Beckett (95 pitches, 64 strikes) is back for the seventh after watching Blackburn strike out the side in the bottom of the sixth. RHP Alfredo Aceves and LHP Rich Hill are warming up in the bullpen for the Red Sox.

Bottom of 5th: Red Sox 1, Twins 0

With two out, Adrian Gonzalez shoots an RBI single to left, scoring Jason Varitek, who reached on a stand-up double to left. Kevin Youkilis draws a walk, putting two aboard, but David Ortiz grounded out to second to end the inning. Beckett now has a lead to work with in the sixth.

Top of 5th: Red Sox 0, Twins 0

Beckett puts up another zero. He's pitched five scoreless innings, allowing four hits, and has thrown 78 pitches (54 for strikes). Shaping up as another quality start. Sox just need to produce some runs for him off Nick Blackburn, who has four scoreless innings himself.

Middle of 4th: Red Sox 0, Twins 0

Beckett continues to roll. He has now thrown four shutout innings, allowing four baserunners on three hits and one walk while striking out three.

Bottom of 3d: Red Sox 0, Twins 0

STREAK ALERT: Jacoby Ellsbury has just extended his hitting streak, the longest active streak in the American League, to 18 games. After grounding out to second in his first at-bat, Ellsbury led off the third inning with a sharply-struck single to center. Ellsbury, who advanced on Dustin Pedroia's ground out to short, wound up getting stranded at second after Gonzalez flew to left and Youkilis struck out (swinging).

Top of 3d: Red Sox 0, Twins 0

Nice 3-6-3 double play from Gonzalez to Lowrie back to Gonzalez. It wipes out Denard Span (walk) at second and Matt Tolbert at first. Beckett's only blemish was a one-out ground ball single up the middle by Luke Hughes.

Bottom of 2d: Red Sox 0, Twins 0

Sox leave two aboard in the second when J.D. Drew draws a walk and Jed Lowrie singles on a sharply-hit ground ball to center field. The Sox maroon their baserunners when Carl Crawford flies to right and Jason Varitek strikes out looking at a 91-m.p.h. fastball.

Middle of 2d: Red Sox 0, Twins 0

Michael Cuddyer spoils Beckett's perfect game with a soft fly to right that eludes Dustin Pedroia's outstretched glove. Beckett, though, strands Cuddyer at first when he strikes out Ben Revere (swinging).

Middle of 1stt: Red Sox 0, Twins 0

One-two-three inning for Beckett, who will be looking to score his third win of the season after getting no-decisions in each of his last three outings.

Pregame

Greetings from Fenway Park, where the Red Sox (16-18) will attempt to wrap-up an 11-game homestand on a winning note tonight vs. the Minnesota Twins (12-20). The Red Sox will take to the road Tuesday for two games at Toronto before heading to New York for a three-game set vs. the Yankees. The Sox will send Josh Beckett (2-1, 2.35) to the mound to oppose Nick Blackburn (2-4. 4.41).

As always, please feel free to post your comments here.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

The Red Sox have used their last few off days (or rainouts) to reshuffle their rotation. That will happen again later this week.

The team is off on Thursday before starting a three-game series in New York against the Yankees.

If the rotation stays in line, Clay Buchholz would start Friday followed by Daisuke Matsuzaka and Josh Beckett. Terry Francona indicated today that wouldn't be the case, but held back the details.

"Give us 'til tomorrow. We're going to try to get a couple of things back in a little bit different order. I want to talk to a couple of guys first," Francona said.

Buchholz is still expected to pitch on Friday. But the Sox have the option of then going to Josh Beckett and Jon Lester and skip Matsuzaka to next Monday's game against the Orioles.

Here are the lineups for the final game of the homestand:

RED SOX (16-18)
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Youkilis 3B
Ortiz DH
Drew RF
Lowrie SS
Crawford LF
Varitek C

Pitching: RHP Josh Beckett (2-1, 2.35)

TWINS (12-20)
Span CF
Tolbert SS
Kubel DH
Morneau 1B
Valencia 3B
Cuddyer RF
Revere LF
Rivera C
Hughes 2B

Pitching: RHP Nick Blackburn (2-4, 4.41)

Game time: 7:10 p.m.

TV/Radio: NESN, ESPN / WEEI

Notes: Beckett has thrown 10.1 innings and 158 pitches over the last 17 days. The Red Sox have given him extra rest since his 125-pitch outing on April 21 in addition to his last start being cut short by rain. ... Beckett is 3-1, 3.81 in four starts against the Twins. He has not pitched against Minnesota since May 28, 2009. ... Blackburn is 2-1, 4.79 in four games (three starts) against the Red Sox in his career. He last faced Boston on May 26, 2009 at the Metrodome, allowing two runs (one earned) over seven innings. ... The Sox have won two straight and five of their last eight. ... The Sox are 14-8 in their last 22 games. ... Ellsbury has hit safely in 17 straight games at 28 of 74 with 10 doubles, 14 runs scored and eight RBIs. ... Crawford is 12 of 31 in an eight-game streak.

Stat of the Day: Crawford is hitting .298 (14 of 47) when he hits 8th. He is hitting .160 (13 of 81) when he hits elsewhere in the lineup.

Song of the Day: "More Than A Feeling" by Boston.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

Here's how badly Dustin Pedroia has been slumping: He's 2 for 8 with two walks in the last two games and that seems like progress.

Pedroia is 8 of 61 (.131) in his last 15 games with 15 strikeouts and no extra-base hits. His batting average has dropped from .333 to .235.

Here's the really shocking part: He has gone 84 at-bats without an extra-base hit. His last one came April 15, a home run off Toronto's Brett Cecil. Pedroia usually gets doubles in his sleep.

The good part is that hitters with a track record invariably get to their averages unless there is an injury involved and Pedroia seems fine physically based on his continued high level of play in the field. So once he does start hitting again, it's going to "get ugly" as he told Fox's Ken Rosenthal the other day.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

Unlike the NBA and NFL, the MLB draft doesn't get a lot of attention from fans because the players do not make an immediate impact on their teams. They instead disappear into the woodwork of the minor leagues only to emerge — or not — a few years later.

But for Theo Epstein and his staff, the June 6-8 draft is a critical time. The Red Sox have four of the first 40 selections and if they make the right picks, it will help restock their system after losing Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo and Rey Fuentes in the Adrian Gonzalez trade.

As the Sox were playing the Twins on Saturday, Epstein was down in Norwich, Conn., watching UConn righthander Matt Barnes, a well-regarded prospect. The Huskies also have outfielder George Springer. The Sox would probably be quite pleased if either of those players dropped down to No. 19 when they make their first pick.

It's a fair bet you won't be seeing Epstein at Fenway Park very often for the next few weeks. He has a lot of faith in amateur scouting director Amiel Sawdaye, assistant director Gus Quattlebaum and all of the scouts. But when it comes time to make the picks, Epstein would like to say his eyes have seen the players in question.

How big is the draft? Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Dustin Pedroia, Jed Lowrie, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Kalish ... that's how big.

Adrian Gonzalez is heating up and helped the Red Sox dump the Twins yesterday with a home run.

Jacoby Ellsbury is on a roll as his hitting streak continued. Michael Vega has the story.

The notebook has Jose Iglesias enjoying his first day in the big leagues.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

When the Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez back in December, it didn't take long for somebody to produce a chart showing where every ball he hit at cavernous Petco Park in San Diego would have landed at Fenway Park.

Even once you figured in assorted variables, it was obvious that Gonzalez would enjoy his new environs. His lefthanded swing, which drives the ball the other way with ease, seemed perfectly suited for Fenway.

Today, after he had two singles and a home run in a 9-5 victory against the Twins on his 29th birthday, I asked Gonzalez if he had seen that graphic. He knew of it, but had not looked at it.

“That’s not me,” he said. “I don’t care about that stuff. I don’t care about my stats.”

All Gonzalez wants is a good swing at a good pitch. The rest, he figures, will take care of itself. It always has for him.

After a slow start, the results are coming. Gonzalez is hitting .359 (32 of 92) in the last 22 games with 13 extra-base hits and 17 RBIs. He has hit home runs in three of the last six games at Fenway, two of them going over the wall. His batting average is up to .314 and he has a healthy .873 OPS.

“He uses the whole field so well. He’s going to bang the ball, if not over the wall, off the wall. And he can pull the ball when they start pounding him in. It doesn’t matter if a lefthander or a righthander, his approach is so good. It’s nice to have him right in the middle of the order,” manager Terry Francona said.

The Sox had a season-best 14 hits today, five for extra bases. Twins starter Carl Pavano (1-3, 12.00 in four starts at Fenway) was wretched the second time through the order.

That's two in a row for the 16-18 Red Sox, who have been doing the cha-cha with .500 for a few weeks. They face the Twins on Monday with Josh Beckett on the mound.

As for birthday, Gonzo did not seemed impressed.

"We get older every day," he said.

A few other notes and observations from today:

• Jose Iglesias played the ninth inning and threw out Alexi Casilla to end the game. Marco Scutaro playfully hid the kid's glove behind the dugout camera, causing him a few anxious seconds before he took the field.

Francona made it clear that the future is not now for the player his teammates call "Iggy."

“We talked to him this morning. We all think he’s got a really bright future here. I don’t think right now is his time to be our starting shortstop,” the manager said.

Still, it would be fun to see him start at least a game or two before he goes back to Pawtucket.

Iglesias is the youngest player to get in a game for the Sox since righthander Jeff Suppan in 1996, the youngest position player since Rich Gedman in 1980 and the youngest shortstop since Juan Beniquez in 1971.

• As for Scutaro, the Red Sox are saying he has a "moderate oblique strain" and will be shut down for a week before gearing up again. Given the history of such injuries, he could miss more than the minimum 15 days. But Scutaro is a tough cookie and will be back sooner than later.

How tough? Scutaro had two at-bats with the injury bothering him on Saturday. He told himself to take only one good swing each time. That produced a 6-4-3 double play and a single.

• Carl Crawford’s triple in the third inning extended his hitting streak to eight games. He is 12 of his last 31, raising his batting average from .135 to .211. The triple was a bomb off the wall in center and then Crawford ran the bases like Michael Johnson.

• John Lackey was in the bullpen and available if needed after throwing 97 pitches on Thursday. Today was his throw day. "Just visiting with the fellas out there," he said. "But I was ready."

• Clay Buchholz will start on Friday at Yankee Stadium. It will be interesting to see whether the Red Sox stay in line and pitch Daisuke Matsuzaka on Saturday or come back with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.

Thanks to everybody for reading today. Back at it tomorrow.

Final: Red Sox 9, Twins 5

The Red Sox erupted for 9 runs on 14 hits after starter Daisuke Matsuzaka spotted the Twins a 3-0 lead in the first to score a 9-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins in this Mother's Day matinee at Fenway Park before a crowd of 37,526.

Matsuzaka, despite giving up a solo homer run to Danny Valencia in the fourth, picked up the win to improve to 3-3 on the season.

Adrian Gonzalez celebrated his 29th birthday today going 3 for 5 with a solo home run, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. Kevin Youkillis got on base four times and scored all four times, going 2 for 4. Jacoby Ellsbury ran his hitting streak to 16 consecutive games after going 3 for 5.

Top of ninth: Red Sox 9, Twins 5

Daniel Bard has relieved Matt Albers and Jose Iglesias, called up today from Triple A Pawtucket after Marco Scutaro (left oblique) was placed on the 15-day disabled list, entered the game for Jed Lowrie at shortstop. It was Iglesias' Major League debut.

Middle of eighth: Red Sox 9, Twins 5

Trevor Plouffe hit a lead-off double to left off Albers, then scored when Jason Kubel singled to left, pulling the Twins within 9-5. It was the first run Albers had allowed after throwing 8.2 scoreless innings in six relief outings. Joe Nathan has relieved Mijares in the bottom of the eighth.

Bottom of seventh: Red Sox 9, Twins 4

Jose Mijares has relieved Alex Burnett (1 inning, 1 hit, 1 strikeout). Mijares has allowed the first two runners to reach, giving up a Wall-ball single to Gonzalez (3-for-4, 2 RBI, 1 home run, 1 run scored) and a deep drive to left by Youkilis that was misplayed by Twins left fielder Ben Revere. It was Minnesota's third error of the game and all three times Youkilis has been the beneficiary. With two out, Jed Lowrie belted a 2-RBI double off the wall in left to score Gonzalez and Youkilis to make it 9-4.

Middle of sixth: Red Sox 7, Twins 4

Matt Albers has relieved Matsuzaka (6 innings, 4 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts). He threw 102 pitches, 62 for strikes. Solid finishing kick by Dice-K after a shaky start.

Bottom of fifth: Red Sox 7, Twins 4

Alex Burnett is now in the game for the Twins in relief of Pavano (5 innings, 7 runs, 10 hits, 1 walk, 1 home run). After throwing his 102d pitch to induce Ben Revere to hit an inning-ending fly to left-center, we may have seen the last of Matsuzaka for the day. Matt Albers is now warming up and Rich Hill has already warmed up.

Middle of fifth: Red Sox 7, Twins 4

Showing his opposite-field power, Adrian Gonzalez continued the onslaught on Pavano, taking him deep to left for a solo homer off the light stanchion in the Green Monster seats, giving him four on the season. It's the second time in a row Gonzalez has had a homer visit that part of Fenway Park. Youkilis shot a single to left to reach base for the third time in the game. He went to second on David Ortiz's single to right, took third on J.D. Drew's fielder's choice that wiped out Oritz at second and then scored when Alexi Casilla's throw to first sailed past the bag. Youkilis has now scored three times and twice has been the beneficiary of Twins' errors.

Bottom of fourth: Red Sox 5, Twins 4

Ellsbury gets gunned down for the third out trying to stretch a single into a double. It's always a doable thing for Ellsbury, who has 10 doubles on the season (second only to Adrian Gonzalez's 12). Ellsbury slid hard into second, causing Twins shortstop Terry Plouffe to injure his right leg on the play. Ellsbury was uninjured, but a potential rally was extinguished unnecessarily.

Middle of fourth: Red Sox 5, Twins 4

Evidently, Matsuzaka can't stand a little prosperity. After the Sox rallied for four runs on five hits in the bottom of the third to give their starter a 5-3 lead, Matsuzaka gave one up to the Twins when he surrendered a lead-off solo homer to Danny Valencia that bounced off the foul pole in left. Sox manager Terry Francona came out to discuss the play with third base umpire Paul Schreiber (there would've been no discussing it with Angel Hernandez, who ejected Francona from Friday night's game). After the home run was upheld following a video review, Matsuzaka retired the next three batters in order.

Bottom of third: Red Sox 5, Twins 3

The Sox rallied for 4 runs on 5 hits off Carl Pavano, who seemed to become unraveled when he gave up a lead-off triple to Carl Crawford. It was Crawford's first triple of the season. After Crawford scored on Jason Varitek's grounder to first, the Sox opened the floodgates when Adrian Gonzalez, celebrating his 29th birthday today, singled to center scoring Jacoby Ellsbury with the tying run. Kevin Youkilis beat out a throw to first on his fielder's choice, enabling Dustin Pedroia, who reached on a walk, to score the go-ahead run. J.D. Drew then drove in Youkilis, who went to third on a throwing error by catcher Drew Butera, with his RBI single to make it 5-4.

Bottom of first: Twins 3, Red Sox 1

Sox get one back in the bottom of the first when Kevin Youkillis, who reached on a stand-up double to left, scores on J.D. Drew's run-producing ground ball to second.

Top of first: Twins 3, Red Sox 0

Rough start for Dice-K. Matsuzaka gave up three runs on three hits, throwing 34 pitches. He put aboard the first two men he faced, Denard Span (single to left) and Trevor Plouffe (walk), and after striking out Justin Morneau, gave up an RBI single to Jason Kubel that scored Span. Danny Valencia then hit a 2-RBI single to center with two out, scoring Plouffe and Kubel. Wonder how long Matsuzaka's right elbow will hold up if he has any more innings like that.

Pregame

Welcome to Fenway Park for today's Mother's Day afternoon matinee between the visiting Twins and the Red Sox. It's cool and a bit misty here. Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-3, 4.33 ERA), who last pitched out of the bullpen in his first career relief appearance in the 13th inning of Wednesday night's/Thursday morning's marathon against the Angels, will return to the mound in a starting capacity. He will be opposed by Carl Pavano (2-3, 5.84).

As always, please feel free to post your comments here. Have a great one!

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

As expected, shortstop Jose Iglesias has been called up from AAA Pawtucket. Marco Scutaro is on the disabled list with a strained left oblique.

Terry Francona made it clear that Iglesias is here temporarily as a backup.

Iglesias said he was surprised to get the news and his father started crying when he called to tell him.

Here are the lineups:

RED SOX (15-18)
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Youkilis 3B
Ortiz DH
Drew RF
Lowrie SS
Crawford LF
Varitek C

Pitching: RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-3, 4.33)

TWINS (12-19)
Span CF
Plouffe SS
Morneau 1B
Kubel DH
Cuddyer RF
Valencia 3B
Revere LF
Butera C
Casilla 2B

Pitching: RHP Carl Pavano (2-3, 5.84)

Game time: 1:35 p.m.

TV/Radio: NESN / WEEI

Notes: Interesting game for Matsuzaka, who has thrown only six innings and 102 pitches over the last 14 days. He is 2-1, 2.30 in four career starts against the Twins and is facing them for the first time since May 27, 2009. He has allowed two earned runs in 15.1 innings against the Twins at Fenway. ... Pavano, once a Red Sox prospect, is 3-3, 6.09 against them in seven career starts, 1-2, 11.70 in three starts at Fenway. ... Ortiz (5 of 9), Drew (6 of 13), Varitek (4 of 10) and Crawford (11 of 28) have hit Pavano hard. ... Ellsbury has hit in 16 straight at 25 of 69 with nine doubles, 13 runs scored and eight RBIs. He has raised his batting average from .182 to .282. ... Crawford has hit in seven straight at 11 of 27 and is up to .210. ... Pedroia is 7 of 57 (.123) with 15 strikeouts and no extra-base hits in his last 14 games. ... The Sox are 9-9 at home. ... The Twins are 1-8 a Fenway since the start of the 2008 season.

Stat of the Day: After making seven errors in their first 24 games, the Red Sox have 10 in their last nine.

Song of the Day: "New Kid In Town" by The Eagles.