FORT MYERS — The Boston Red Sox scored on Francisco Liriano in each of the first three innings of his start Wednesday.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire pulled Liriano with no outs in the third, after David Ortiz drilled a run-scoring double to right field, giving Boston a 3-0 lead.

Liriano threw 53 pitches — 25 balls, 28 strikes — and struggled to command his fastball, change-up and slider.

His line: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. (Pitched to two batters in the third inning).

Update: Liriano said his arm felt good even and said he was pitching with about 90-95 percent effort, compared to the 80 percent he was using earlier in camp.

“I’m almost there,” he said. “I feel more comfortable in the last two innings. I was trying to let it go.”

Liriano said Gardenhire told him not to worry about the results, to just work on his pitches and get ready for the season.

“I think I have enough time to stretch out and be ready for the season,” Liriano said.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.