FORT MYERS, FLA. -- Kevin Correia allowed three runs in 2 1/3 innings, former St. Paul Saint Caleb Thielbar surrendered five runs, and the Red Sox romped to an 12-5 victory over the split-squad Twins at Hammond Stadium.
Correia's spring ERA rose to 8.10 after he gave up six hits, five of them singles, but one of the runs was a Florida fluke. With two outs in the second inning, the Twins' righthander induced a routine fly to center by Drew Sutton. But the ball was directly in the sun for center fielder Joe Benson, and it fell for an RBI double.
Correia has allowed at least one run in each of his three spring starts, though, and hurt his cause in this one by throwing a pickoff attempt past first baseman Jeff Clement.
Thielbar gave up three hits and a walk, and hit a batter in Boston's five-run fourth inning. Dustin Pedroia doubled home two runs, and Mike Napoli hammered a line-drive home run to left for three more runs, staking Clay Buchholz to an 8-0 lead.
The Twins rallied for four runs in the bottom of the inning off the Red Sox's projected closer, Joel Hanrahan, who allowed consecutive singles to Ryan Doumit, Trevor Plouffe, Eduardo Escobar and Clement.
B.J. Hermsen gave up three runs in the ninth, one of them unearned due to his throwing error on a potential double-play ball.
Minnesota faces Boston again Friday at 6 p.m. CT at JetBlue Stadium, the Twins' first televised game (FSN Plus) of the spring.
