Twins 7, Red Sox 3

The Twins gave Matt Garza (W 2-5, 5.40 ERA) the lead in the second after Justin Morneau started his amazing 5 for 5 night with his first of three line drive doubles (37) to left. One batter later, Rondell White singled on a sharp liner to left bringing him home. After a Phil Nevin walk and a wild pitch by Tim Wakefield (L 7-10, 4.50 ERA), Jason Bartlett (1 for 4) smoked a three-run shot to left, giving the Twins a four-run lead. Torii Hunter added two more runs in the third with his 27th longball of the year. Wakefield only made it 3.1 innings, allowing those 6 runs on 8 hits, walking two Twins and striking out three. Lenny DiNardo (7.17 ERA) held the Twins scoreless for 3.2 innings of relief.

With a nice early lead to work with, Matt Garza went 5.2 innings allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, walking three batters and striking out four. He didn't allow a run until the fifth, until a lead-off single to first baseman Eric Hinske followed by a basehit by catcher Doug Mirabelli. Short stop Alex Gonzalez then hit a sac fly to left, scoring one. Garza didn't seem to let the run bother him, ending the inning with a Coco Crisp forceout and fly out by infielder Mark Loretta.

In the sixth inning, after a Hinske two-out single, Garza was replaced by Jesse Crain (3.77 ERA), who promptly gave up a Mirabelli RBI double, but ended the inning with the next batter, suddenly cutting the Twins' lead in half.

In the top of the seventh, Torii bounced a ball off of his ankle, delaying the game a bit with what seemed to be pain. He shrugged it off and hobbled to first on a walk, but the Twins would not add anymore scoring that inning. Hunter was replaced by Lew Ford in the ninth and hopefully will be okay, considering the Twins have no more days off this [regular] season. Dennys Reyes (0.94 ERA) replaced Crain with one out in the bottom of the frame and pitched it scoreless.

Reyes threw a wild pitch outside to Trot Nixon in the eighth allowing him first base, but forced third baseman Mike Lowell to ground into a double play. Dustin Pedroia was brought in for Hinske and singled to left before Juan Rincon was brought in to get the final out, but walked Mirabelli. Nick Punto made an outstanding catch over the wall on the third baseline to end the inning with the tieing run at the plate: Jason Varitek, pinch-hitting for Gonzalez. Huge play.

The Canadian Crusher goes 5 for 5

After a Michael Cuddyer double (39) in the top of the ninth off Bryan Corey (2.55 ERA), Morneau drove him in on a line drive single off Javier Lopez (3.21 ERA), pounding another nail into Boston's inevitable coffin. With New York's magic number at 1, their 2006 future is not looking too bright. Automatic Joe Nathan pitched a perfect bottom half, striking out one and putting the Twins' win in writing.

VS.

The Twins will put Boof Bonser (5-5, 4.52 ERA) on the hill in his only start against Boston this season with veteran Curt Schilling (14-7, 4.13 ERA) hurling for the Red Sox in game two Wednesday night.

With Chicago shutting out Detroit 7-0, the White Sox remain five games behind Minnesota in the Wild Card Standings, with the Tigers quickly losing hold of their one-game Divisional lead.

Batting Title Watch: Joe Mauer went 1 for 5 during Tuesday night's game, lowering his batting average to .343 while Yankee Derek Jeter (.340) also went 1 for 5 (with 2 RBIs) during New York's 6-3 victory over Toronto.