MINNEAPOLIS -- No late-inning drama this time for the Red Sox -- just an old-fashioned, easy-to-enjoy lopsided win.
The Sox cranked out 18 hits and bashed the Minnesota Twins, 11-2, for their second straight win to open a seven-game road swing.
Six different Red Sox had multi-hit games, led by Mike Aviles with four hits Adrian Gonzalez and who had three hits. David Ortiz had three RBI, while Aviles and Gonzalez added two apiece.
Aviles had two doubles, a homer and a single while Ortiz singled in one run and belted a mammoth 429-foot homer in the fifth to drive in two more.
The Sox had multi-run innings in four of the first five frames.
Josh Beckett, who walked three in the first three in the first inning to walk in one run and clashed with home plate umpire Adrian Johnson in the first over the latter's strike zone, limited the Twins to just one more run over the next five innings.
Beckett, 2-2, finished with a flourish, striking out the side in the sixth, his final inning.
Boston Red Sox
Scott Atchison then contributed two perfect innings of relief and Matt Albers finished up with a scoreless ninth.
STAR OF THE GAME: Mike Aviles
The shortstop enjoyed his sixth career four-hit game and drove in three runs and scoring three.
Since moving into the leadoff spot after the injury to Jacoby Ellsbury, Aviles has hit .395 with four doubles, three homers and nine runs scored.
HONORABLE MENTION: Josh Beckett
It wasn't pretty at the beginning, what with three straight walks leading to a run in the first inning, followed by a verbal confrontation with home plate umpire Adrian Johnson.
But after allowing a run in the first, Beckett allowed just one more over his final five innings and got his second win of the season
GOAT OF THE GAME: Nick Blackburn
Blackburn fell behind 3-0 before his teammates could come to the plate and it was all downhill from there. The Sox added two more off him in the third, meaning the Minnesota bullpen had to go six innings.
TURNING POINT: When Beckett left the mound after the first, he had some choice (and profane) words for Johnson. Whether it helped to blow off some steam, Beckett was different after that and didn't walk another batter the rest of the way.
BY THE NUMBERS: David Ortiz has 28 hits through the first 16 games of the season, the most in that span by a Red Sox lefthanded hitter in franchise history.
QUOTE OF NOTE: "He got a little frustrated, possibly, but it really turned up his competitive fluids. He was into it. I haven't seen Josh like that. It seemed like this was a game he really wanted.'' -Bobby Valentine after his starter jawed with home plate umpire Adrian Johnson over balls and strikes.