Domes Day for Texas, Boston

Less than six weeks after Boston scored 22 runs in a drubbing of Kansas City, the Red Sox learned how it feels.

A few states away, also under the cover of a dome, the Texas Rangers could commiserate.

It feels pretty bad, actually.

“Nobody got hurt, so that’s one good thing,” Boston Manager Butch Hobson said Friday at the Metrodome in Minneapolis after the Minnesota Twins got 22 hits, including a club-record eight in a row in an 11-run fifth inning, and beat the Red Sox, 21-2.

“They were hitting everything we threw up there,” Hobson said.

Texas Manager Kevin Kennedy had to feel pretty much the same after the Rangers were blasted, 19-2, by the Seattle Mariners, who got 20 hits in the Kingdome.

At Minneapolis, there were plenty of heroes for the Twins. As usual, Kirby Puckett was among them.

“I feel like every time I go up to the plate I’m going to get a hit,” said Puckett, who had three of them and a career-high seven RBIs to help the Twins win their sixth in a row. “I feel if I get a good pitch, I’m going to get a hit. But I’m just the same old Kirby.”

Not quite. The same old Kirby was 0 for 16 against Boston reliever Todd Frohwirth. Puckett, who has seven hits in his last eight at-bats, hit a three-run homer against Frohwirth to spark the Twins’ barrage in the fifth inning.

“I can’t believe I finally got a hit off him,” said Puckett, whose seven RBIs were the most for the Twins since Randy Bush had eight against Texas in 1989.

Minnesota also set club records for RBIs (21) and largest winning margin and tied a record by sending 16 men to the plate in the fifth.

Carlos Pulido (2-3) made a last-minute start in place of Scott Erickson.

The offensive outburst was just what Pulido (2-3) needed. He allowed three hits and one run in seven innings.

“Pulido did a real nice job,” Twin Manager Tom Kelly said in understatement. “He got a lead and won himself a ballgame in an emergency situation.”

The Twins raked five Boston pitchers, and the most effective Boston pitcher was the sixth, reserve outfielder Andy Tomberlin, who held Minnesota to no runs and one hit in the seventh and eighth innings.

In Seattle, Edgar Martinez hit one of the Mariners’ five homers and had a career-high five RBIs as they set a team record for runs.

Martinez capped Seattle’s record outburst with a two-run homer in the seventh inning. He also had an RBI single in the first and a two-run double in the fourth.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his major league leading 18th homer, a two-run shot in the first inning, to start the rout. The homer was Griffey’s 11th this month and the 150th of his career. Griffey has homered in six of the last nine games.

Tino Martinez added a two-run shot for Seattle, Reggie Jefferson had a three-run homer and Torey Lovullo hit one with the bases empty.

Randy Johnson (4-3) allowed five hits and two runs in six innings to earn the victory.

Roger Pavlik (0-2), who was making his second start of the season, allowed eight hits, including three homers, and nine runs in 1 2/3 innings.