Now Boston worries about AL chase

BOSTON (AP) -- Now that they've taken care of a minor inconvenience known as the Minnesota Twins, the Boston Red Sox will turn their attention to the pennant race.

The Red Sox beat Minnesota 11-6 on Thursday in a makeup of a July 26 rainout. The Twins flew in from Minneapolis for the one-game series and then left, but Boston stays home for an important weekend series against the New York Yankees.

"We have to play some very big games this weekend," said Ramon Martinez, who retired 16 of 17 batters after allowing back-to-back homers in the first inning, including David Ortiz's first career grand slam. "The next seven games are going to be very interesting."

The Red Sox play three against the AL East-leading Yankees this weekend, then go to New York on Monday for another makeup game. Then it's off to Cleveland for three games against the AL wild card leaders.

"If you want to win, you've got to beat the teams ahead of you," reliever Derek Lowe said. "Right now, we're playing New York."

Jose Offerman homered twice and scored four runs, and Dante Bichette also homered for the Red Sox. Offerman and Lou Merloni had three hits apiece as Boston rallied from a five-run deficit in the first.

Ortiz hit his first career grand slam, then Corey Koskie followed with a homer off Martinez to give the Twins a fast 5-0 lead. But Martinez (9-6) settled down after that -- a pattern he has followed all season.

"He bent, but he didn't break," Boston manager Jimy Williams said of his starter. "It's a nine-inning game. And we hadn't even been up yet."

Twenty-nine of the 74 runs Martinez has allowed this season have been in the first, giving him an ERA of 11.35 in the first inning and 4.62 in the rest. Overall, he gave up six runs in 5 2-3 innings on eight hits on Thursday while matching a season high with seven strikeouts.

"I don't worry about the first inning, because I don't want that to get into my head," he said. "If you go out there and you give up five or six or whatever number of runs, you don't have to give up. You never give up. You give the team a chance to come back, and that's what happened today."

Eric Milton (12-9) allowed six runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out four, but he only lasted 3 1-3 innings as the Twins allowed 16 hits in all and lost for the seventh time in nine games.

MINNESOTA BOSTON

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Cnizaro 2b 4 1 1 0 DLewis rf 5 1 1 2

CGzmn ss 4 1 1 0 Offrmn 1b 4 4 3 2

Lawton lf 4 1 1 0 Brogna 1b 0 0 0 0

Coomer 1b 4 0 0 0 CEvrtt cf 5 0 1 0

DOrtiz dh 4 1 1 4 Grcprr ss 5 0 2 1

Koskie 3b 4 2 2 1 Bchette dh 5 2 2 1

THuntr cf 4 0 1 1 O'Lry lf 4 1 1 0

JJones rf 2 0 1 0 Varitek c 3 2 2 0

Bchnan rf 2 0 0 0 Merloni 3b 4 1 3 2

Moeller c 3 0 0 0 Sadler 2b 1 0 0 0

Przyns ph 1 0 1 0 Alcntra ph 1 0 0 0

Lnsing 2b 2 0 1 1

Totals 36 6 9 6 Totals 39 11 16 9

Minnesota 500 001 000 -- 6

Boston 110 521 01x -- 11

E--Lawton (5), Moeller (6). LOB--Minnesota 4, Boston 6. 2B--Pierzynski (3), DLewis (10), Offerman (11), Bichette (1), Varitek (30), Merloni (5). 3B--THunter (6). HR--DOrtiz (10), Koskie (9), Offerman 2 (8), Bichette (2).

IP H R ER BB SO

Minnesota

Milton L,12-9 3 1-3 8 7 6 1 4

Cressend 1 2-3 4 2 2 1 0

TEMiller 2 3 1 0 0 3

Guardado 1 1 1 1 0 0

Boston

RJMrtz W,9-6 5 2-3 8 6 6 0 7

Fassero 1-3 0 0 0 0 0

Garces 2-3 0 0 0 1 1

SLee 1-3 0 0 0 0 0

Beck 1 0 0 0 0 0

Florie 1 1 0 0 0 2

Umpires--Home, Foster, Marty; First, Kulpa; Second, Marsh; Third, Hernandez.

T--3:06. A--32,283 (33,871).