Minnesota 4, Boston 2

FORT MYERS, Fla., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Boston's Derek Lowe took the mound Thursday night two months after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous growth on his nose and allowed one hit in two scoreless innings, but the Red Sox fell to the Minnesota Twins, 4-2.

After Lowe completing his outnig, the Twins scored two runs in the third off Alan Embree as Alex Prieto delivered an RBI double and came home on a single by Bobby Kielty.

Minnesota padded its lead in the ninth on a run-scoring triple by Todd Sears.

Starter Kyle Lohse also pitched two scoreless innings and the Twins blanked the Red Sox until the bottom of the ninth, when Julio Zuleta came through with an RBI double and Kevin Millar plated a run with a fielder's choice.