BOSTON -- In 2013, when the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, they never lost three games in a row.
In 2015, when the Red Sox settled into last place in the American League East, they've won three games in a row once.
A chance to double that total evaporated Wednesday night when the Sox were shut out, 2-0, by Minnesota Twins rookie Trevor May and two reliever, managing just two hits after banging out 13 in a 6-3 win in the first game of a day-night double-header.
Rick Porcello faced the minimum 20 batters after Aaron Hicks's single in the second and allowed just five hits and no walks in eight innings, but the Twins bunched three of those hits and a safety squeeze bunt by Danny Santana to score both of their runs in the second inning.
Porcello, has lost his last three and four of his last five decisions.
May, a 6-foot-5 right-hander who came up in the Phillies' organization and went to Minnesota in the Ben Revere trade before the 2014 season, struck out five of the first eight hitters he faced. He gave up a two-out single to Carlos Peguero, followed by a double by Dustin Pedroia, in the third, Brock Holt grounded out to end the inning, and the Sox never had another base-runner.
The last 19 Sox batters went down in order, with setup man Blaine Boyer working a 1-2-3 eighth and Glen Perkins striking out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth, including pinch hitter Hanley Ramirez on a called third strike.
Neither team walked a batter, the game completed in a swift 2 hours and 15 minutes. The teams have combined to score 12 runs in the first three games of the series. The Sox won, 1-0, in the series opener Tuesday night.
