Former Red Sox infielder Jose Offerman bunted Guzman to third and Lew Ford got the go-ahead run home with a sacrifice fly to left.

It was not the ending that the 100th consecutive sellout crowd at Fenway Park was looking for.

Closer Keith Foulke took the loss for the Sox, despite not allowing a hit or an earned run.

The play on Guzman was one Garciaparra will gladly try and make again.

"You do a great job getting to it, you spin around, hope the ball is there, and nine times out of 10 it is," said Garciaparra. "You've got a fast guy in Guzman, you're going out there and trying to keep them off the bases and try to make a great play. I knew when I spun around and let it go, it was kind of going wide. Like I said, nine times out of 10 I make that one."

The one time it wasn't just wound up to be a bad time for the Sox. But nobody in the Boston clubhouse was down on Garciaparra, who began his season 15 days ago after missing 57 games with tendinitis in his right Achilles.

"I actually like what I see from Nomar," said Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon. "It was almost a great play. We're not worried about that. We know he's going to be there down the stretch and be a key contributor."

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was surprised that the play wasn't ruled a hit and an error. Garciaparra didn't disagree.

"They gave it an error? That's funny," said Garciaparra. "It should have been a hit and an error, they didn't do that? That's hilarious to me, pretty funny."

The defeat meant that the Sox have lost two out of three in their last three series. They hope to change their luck when the Phillies come to town this weekend.

"We have a lot of baseball left and a lot of fun times ahead of us," Millar said. "We'll keep our heads up and keep going."

The Sox are 25-25 in their last 50 games, and 40-31 overall.

"We're not playing good right now, but we're in a good spot," said Damon. "We'll find it. It's just going to take longer than we expected."

The Sox set up Thursday's unfulfilling end by rallying back from a two-run deficit, courtesy of a two-run single by David Ortiz in the bottom of the seventh. The best news of the day for the Sox was the work of veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who snapped a four-start slump by holding the Twins at bay (8 hits, one earned run) in his 7 2/3 innings of work.

"I felt real good today," said Wakefield. "I felt like I was in a good rhythm. I've stopped thinking about what I'm doing and just [pitched]."

Ortiz was Boston's hitting star, driving in all three runs.

Grant Balfour picked up the win for Minnesota, firing 2 1/3 shutout innings. Closer Joe Nathan picked up his 21st save of the season, and second in as many days.

The Sox got on the board first, as Ortiz ripped a towering shot around Pesky's Pole in right to make it 1-0. It was Ortiz's 17th homer of the season.

Twins righty Brad Radke settled right down after that, holding the Sox scoreless over the next five innings.

"You have to tip your hat to Radke," said Wakefield. "He pitched a great game."

The Twins rallied against Wakefield in the second. It started innocently enough, as Michael Cuddyer struck out for what would have been the third out, but reached first on a passed ball by Doug Mirabelli. That set up Michael Restovich for an RBI double to center, tying it up at 1-1. Henry Blanco followed with an RBI single that put the Twins in front.

In the fourth, the Twins manufactured a run. Ford led off with a single and stole second. He scored on a double off the Green Monster by Cuddyer.

But the Sox eventually rallied. Kevin Youkilis got things rolling with a one-out single to center in the seventh. Johnny Damon ripped a single up the middle and both runners moved up on a fielder's choice grounder by Mark Bellhorn.

Gardenhire then took out starter Radke so left-hander Aaron Fultz could face Ortiz. While the strategy was sound, it didn't work. Ortiz victimized his old team by lacing a 3-2 pitch into right-center. His two-run single tied the game.

Ultimately, the comeback went for naught. Sox manager Terry Francona hopes his team's fortunes are about to change.

"I think it's a little bit of everything," Francona ssid. "Every time we think we're ready to get on a little bit of a roll we don't put it all together."