Red Sox 6, Twins 0

Considering Johan Santana's 12-3 record in 21 career September starts, the last thing on Twins' fans minds was a loss Thursday night in Boston. With Detroit losing to Baltimore earlier in the day, putting the two teams together at the top, Minnesota was left with an opportunity to take the lead in the American League Central: something that they haven't done all season for longer than 20 minutes.

Instead, Santana (L 18-6, 2.79 ERA) was handed his first loss since July 7, going only five innings while allowing 4 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits, walking and striking out three. It was pretty apparent from the start that Santana didn't seem to have his best stuff. Trying to throw a fastball away to David Ortiz with two outs in the first inning, he instead left it hovering over the middle of the plate, allowing Big Papi to smash his 51st home run of the season, becoming the first Red Sox player in history to reach that number. There was a giant hoorah and hugs ensued (puke...single tear). But seriously, congrats to the former Twin.

The hopes were that Johan would settle in and shrug it off, but after giving up back-to-back singles to start the second inning, he attempted to field a sacrifice bunt from shortstop Alex Gonzalez. He slipped while looking over at third base, losing the out there after dropping the ball, then completely overthrew Justin Morneau at first in a lay out. It was pretty ugly, bringing in two runs on the bunt, which ended up being a double error on Santana that was later changed to a sac bunt for Gonzalez. The damage didn't end there, as one more run would score on sacrifice fly by Mark Loretta for a 4-0 Boston lead.

The Twins' bats were silenced by a dominating Josh Beckett (W 16-10, 4.82 ERA) who pitched eight shut out innings, allowing only 6 hits and striking out five batters. Joe Mauer (2 for 4), Torii Hunter (2 for 4) and Jason Bartlett (2 for 3) each had decent nights at the plate, but were not able to produce any runs.

After Santana's exit, Ortiz belted his second homer of the night in the seventh inning off reliever Matt Guerrier (3.34 ERA), giving Ortiz 52 on the year. Mike Lowell followed with another longball, bringing the score to 6-0, Boston.

On a lighter note: As far as the standings are concerned, Thursday never happened. Both Detroit and Chicago lost, leaving Minnesota with the same margins, trailing the Tigers in the AL Central by a half-game and leading the White Sox by 5.5 in the Wild Card.

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Minnesota looks to bounce back Friday with Carlos Silva (10-13, 5.88 ERA) on the bump against Daniel Cabrera (7-10, 5.10 ERA) and the O's in Baltimore.

Batting Title Race: With Joe Mauer having a .500 night at the plate Thursday, he raised his average to .345, staying ahead of Derek Jeter (.339) with the Yankee's day off.