Crisp has electric debut in loss

[BoSox34]

TWINS 6, RED SOX 3
at Hammond Stadium, Fort Myers, Fla.
Thursday, March 2
Attendance: 7,651

Twins at the plate: Torii Hunter didn't take long to get back into game form, scoring the first Twins run in the second inning with a towering home run over the left-field wall on the first pitch he saw. Terry Tiffee added an RBI single later in the inning. Joe Mauer went 2-for-3 on the day with a solo homer and an RBI single.

Red Sox at the plate: It was an impressive debut for the Red Sox new leadoff man, Coco Crisp, who went 3-for-3 with one RBI, finishing just a homer shy of the cycle.

Twins on the mound: Johan Santana threw two scoreless innings while giving up one hit and striking out three in his only start for the Twins before leaving to pitch for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. Carlos Silva followed Santana with two scoreless innings of his own, allowing three hits and striking out three.

Red Sox on the mound: Starter Jonathan Papelbon surrendered two runs, both earned, on four hits and one walk in 1 2/3 innings. His outing began with a scare in the first inning when Twins leadoff batter Shannon Stewart hit a line shot off the pitcher's left ankle.

Grapefruit League records: Twins 1-0; Red Sox 0-1.
Up next: The Twins host the Reds on Friday at Hammond Stadium at 1:05 p.m. ET. Right-hander Brad Radke will make his first start of the spring for Minnesota. The Red Sox will play host to college exhibition games against Boston College and Northeastern at home Friday. Curt Schilling is scheduled to start against BC at 1:05 p.m. ET and Matt Clement will start the 7:05 p.m. ET contest against Northeastern.

Kelly Thesier is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/...=.jsp&c_id=bos

Great to see Crisp having a solid performance in his first game as a Red Sox, hopefully he can keep this type of production up.

[Fishercat]

Coco's on roids!

Seriously, a single/double/triple is a pretty nice debut, especially considering the Twins threw actual pitchers out there (Silva and Santana). Although, Enrique Wilson had a triple too...

I heard that Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen both looked good, definitely a good sign for the inevitable injuries and/or suckage in the pen.

[Fishercat]

Also, nice showing by the fans, 7600. Nice job old people and school vacationers!