BOSTON -- It felt like a May day at the ballpark on Wednesday night.

That wasn't because of the mid-50s weather but rather the performance of Trevor May, who turned in the best start of his career with seven scoreless innings to power the Minnesota Twins to a 2-0 win over the Boston Red Sox in game two of a day-night doubleheader at Fenway Park.

"I was just trying to fill it up, fill up the zone," said May, who threw 98 pitches -- 70 for strikes. "I told myself that before, between each inning and just stay on it, stay on it, stay on it."

The 25-year-old right-hander had never held an opponent scoreless in 18 career starts entering the game. May (4-3) snapped a streak of four straight starts with three or more earned runs.

"Trevor May just stepped up for us in a big way," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "It might be as well as I've seen him pitch in terms of command, first-pitch strikes."

May served up first-pitch strikes to his last nine batters, 17 of his last 19, and 19 of 23 overall.

"They weren't just first-pitch strikes, they were quality strikes," Molitor said.

In May's last three games, he has walked only one batter while racking up 23 strikeouts.

"I've been able to adjust (my strikeout pitch) based on what's working that day," May said. "I think that's the biggest thing. Not letting guys eliminate pitches is a big one."

It certainly didn't hurt that May was able to observe some of the batters he faced in the first game of the twin bill, which the Red Sox won 6-3. Right-hander Phil Hughes struggled on the mound, giving up five earned runs and 11 hits in the loss.

"I think everybody in this league is smart enough to pay attention to how other guys are being pitched and who's having success and who's hot and who's not," Molitor said.

Catcher Chris Hermann (1-for-3) drove in a run and shortstop Danny Santana's safety squeeze later in the inning brought home a run for Minnesota (31-21), which had five hits in the nightcap.

Left-hander Glen Perkins kept the Red Sox bats quiet in the ninth for his 20th save.

Rick Porcello (4-5) bounced back from two bad outings with a quality start but was still a hard-luck loser for Boston (24-30). The right-hander threw 101 pitches in eight innings, giving up two earned runs and five hits and walking none while striking out five.

"He got better as the night went along," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Eight quality innings of work. In the second inning, he left a couple of pitches up that he was able to bunch together with a walk for their two runs and became much more efficient as he went."

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia (1-for-3) and left fielder Carlos Peguero (1-for-2) had the only hits for the Red Sox. Pedroia cooled off after a 4-for-5 game in the afternoon, and designated hitter David Ortiz, who doubled twice in the opener, was 0-for-3.

"Certainly what we didn't expect," Farrell said of Boston's sluggish bats in the second game, "but that's not to take anything away from May."

After spending the first game on the bench, Hermann and right fielder Eddie Rosario provided the Twins with instant offense in their first at-bats in the second.

Rosario singled to center to lead off the inning and stole second, setting the table for Hermann's one-out double off the wall in left that Peguero misplayed on a bounce. Rosario scored from second to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

Hermann moved to third on center fielder Aaron Hicks' single to left and crossed the plate later in the inning on a sacrifice bunt from Santana, making it 2-0.

Peguero gave the Red Sox some life with a two-out single to center in the third that snapped an 0-for-19 spell at the plate and broke up a string of five consecutive strikeouts for May.

Pedroia lined a double to left, putting the tying runs in scoring posit