MINNEAPOLIS -- David Ortiz insists he doesn't want to participate in the Home Run Derby when the All-Star Game comes to Target Field this summer, saying it would be too much for his 38-year-old body to handle.

Instead, he's holding his own personal home run derby here in May.

Ortiz homered twice for the second consecutive night to lead the Boston Red Sox past the Minnesota Twins 9-4 on Wednesday. "Big Papi" went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, one night after a four-hit performance against his former team.

Both of his home runs -- off Kevin Correia (1-5) in the third and Caleb Thielbar in the fifth -- traveled more than 400 feet into the right-field upper deck at Target Field, where he's batting .528 (28-of-53) in 13 career games.

After the game, though, Ortiz wouldn't bite when asked whether it means anything to hit like this against the team that let him go 12 years ago.

"You've got to play the same way against everybody," he said. "You guys watch me every day. I come to the field with the same attitude every day. You're not going to hit like that every day, it's not going to happen."

Don't tell that to the Twins. In 56 games against Minnesota, Ortiz has a career average of .351 (75-for-214) with 19 homers and 49 RBIs.

"When you leave your original organization, that's not a memory that doesn't necessarily go away, no matter how that end came about, whether a roster decision or trade," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Thankfully for the Red Sox, he's come this way."

After his second 400-foot home run of the night landed in the upper deck, even the Minnesota crowd couldn't help but show its appreciation for Ortiz's latest display of power. With the game practically already out of reach, the Twins' fans could only politely stand and clap as the Red Sox slugger rounded the bases for the fourth time in two nights and put Boston up 6-1 in the fifth.

The Twins finally retired him in the sixth when Anthony Swarzak got Ortiz swinging on a full count.

"It looks like he's got the ball on a tee," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "You can't misfire like that. That's what we're doing, misfiring. We said we were going to pitch him tough; we haven't pitched him tough."

It was more than enough for Felix Doubront (2-3), who allowed a run on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings and retired nine straight at one point. Doubront hadn't won since April 3 at Baltimore, his first start of the season.

Ortiz, who also doubled in the first inning, moved into sole possession of third place on Boston's all-time homers list (384) and recorded his 43rd career multihomer game, 41 of which have come with the Red Sox.

Trevor Plouffe hit his second homer of the year for Minnesota, a two-run shot in the ninth.

Joe Mauer's sacrifice fly in the third scored Eduardo Escobar. Minnesota added an unearned run in the eighth after a throwing error by Burke Badenhop from the mound allowed Chris Parmelee to reach third. He eventually scored on Eduardo Nunez's RBI single.

Grady Sizemore had two hits and a pair of RBIs; Dustin Pedroia, Will Middlebrooks and Napoli each drove in a run for Boston. A.J. Pierzynski added a two-run double in the ninth.

 

A.J. Pierzynski, Boston Red Sox and Eduard Escobar, Minnesota Twins
Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
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