Twins vs. Red Sox Live Blog: Instant Updates and Analysis

Making his second career start, Eduardo Rodriguez had another stellar outing, as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-3 in the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader at Fenway Park.

Rodriguez tossed 7.2 scoreless innings of three-hit ball in a win against the Texas Rangers in his debut last week and was just as good against Minnesota. He allowed one run—a Brian Dozier solo shot in the third inning—on two hits in seven innings, while walking just two and striking out seven, improving to 2-0.

Six of his punch-outs came in the first three frames, but he effectively pitched to soft contact as the game progressed and managed to go deep into the game again.

Phil Hughes fell to 4-5 on the season and 3-6 all-time at Fenway Park.

He entered Wednesday with a career 5.77 ERA at the storied ball park, a number that took a hit during his 4.1 innings of work when Boston scored five runs on 11 hits off him.

Three of Dustin Pedroia's four hits came off Hughes and Xander Bogaerts produced all three of his base knocks against the right-hander.

David Ortiz drove in the game's first run on a double off the center field wall in the bottom of the first.

Pedroia advanced to third base on Ortiz's second double of the game in the third inning, which set things up for Hanley Ramirez, who took Hughes the other way for an RBI single that put Boston ahead 2-1.

Bogaerts staked the Red Sox to a comfortable 5-1 advantage with a two-run single that knocked Hughes out of the game.

Hughes' ERA went up to 4.96.

Mike Napoli took Michael Tonkin deep in the seventh for a solo shot into the Monster seats—his ninth long ball of the season.

Alexi Ogando pitched the final two innings for Boston and gave Red Sox fans a bit of a scare in the ninth.

He allowed a two-run home run to Eduardo Escobar with two outs in the inning, cutting Minnesota's deficit to 6-3, but the reliever ultimately induced a ground ball off the bat of Eduardo Nunez to end the game.

Starting pitching has been a problem for Boston all year, but it has received two straight outstanding performances in this series.

Clay Buchholz pitched eight shutout innings in a 1-0 win over Minnesota on Monday night, and today, Rodriguez stepped up with yet another great showing.

Rick Porcello (4-4, 5.37 ERA) starts Game 2 for the Red Sox and he's allowed 13 runs over his last two starts. Perhaps he comes out motivated after seeing what Boston starters have done over the last two days.

Trevor May (3-3, 5.07 ERA) takes the mound for the Twins and he hasn't fared much better to this point in the season, so the 7:10 p.m. ET nightcap on Wednesday at Fenway Park may turn into a slugfest.