Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Boston 6, Minnesota 4
When: 1:35 PM ET, Sunday, August 5, 2012
Where: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Temperature: 89°
Umpires: Home - Wally Bell, 1B - Mike Winters, 2B - Mark Wegner, 3B - David Rackley
Attendance: 37019

Red Sox 6, Twins 4: Adrian Gonzalez homered and drove in three runs as host Boston snapped a four-game losing streak.

Franklin Morales pitched six strong innings and Carl Crawford celebrated his 31st birthday with three hits and an RBI as the Red Sox averted a four-game sweep.

Morales (3-2) limited Minnesota to one run on three hits over six innings in his sixth start of the season and first since July 13 as Boston moved within one game of .500 at 54-55.

Mark Melancon tossed 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, but Vicente Padilla allowed ninth-inning homers by Josh Willingham and Ryan Doumit to bring the Twins within 6-4. Alfredo Aceves came on and got the final three outs for his 23rd save.

Twins starter Nick Blackburn (4-7) allowed four runs on nine hits in five innings to remain winless in his last six starts.

Gonzalez followed Crawford's run-scoring groundout with an RBI single in the third for a 2-0 lead, and slammed a two-run homer in the fifth to make it 4-1.

Ben Revere extended his hitting streak to 19 games and drove in Minnesota's first run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Red Sox swung a trade with Minnesota on Sunday, acquiring 3B Danny Valencia for OF prospect Jeremias Pinedea. Valencia batted .198 in 34 games for the Twins. He was assigned to Triple-A Pawtucket. Minnesota recalled INF Tsuyoshi Nishioka from Triple-A Rochester to take Valencia's place. Pineda was batting .421 in the Gulf Coast League. ... Boston RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (neck) allowed four runs (one earned) in three-plus innings at Pawtucket on Sunday. He struck out three, walked a batter and hit one. ... Twins RHP P.J. Walters (shoulder) threw two perfect innings Saturday for Rochester. He is scheduled to pitch again Thursday. ... Crawford is 13-for-35 on his birthday over the past seven years. ... The Twins head to Cleveland for a three-game set beginning Monday, while the Red Sox will host Texas in a three-game series.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Minnesota   Boston
Nick Blackburn Player Franklin Morales
Loss W/L Win
5.0 IP 6.0
4 Strikeouts 4
9 Hits 3
7.20 ERA 1.50
Hitting
Minnesota   Boston
Ryan Doumit Player Carl Crawford
2 Hits 3
2 RBI 1
1 HR 0
5 TB 3
.500 Avg .600
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Minnesota 6 2 13 .194 11 7 4 4 2 0
Boston 14 1 19 .400 16 5 6 2 3 0