FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Mike Pelfrey pitched two scoreless innings in his spring debut as the Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox 8-2 on Friday.

“I wanted to work fast, pick up my tempo, and I thought I did a good job of that,” Pelfrey said. “And I wanted to throw some sliders, and I thought it was really, really good.”

Pelfrey struggled for much of last season, his first with the Twins, going 5-13 with a 5.19 ERA in 29 starts. Even though it’s still early in camp, he’s already been able to notice a difference in his performance from last season.

“I think I threw the slider today maybe six or seven times, and maybe four or five were strikes,” he said. “I don’t know if I threw six for strikes all spring training last year.”

“It’s definitely different. I don’t know what velocity was, but it was definitely better than last year. … I feel like I’m in a lot better place than I was at this time last year. I feel normal, I feel good.”

Pelfrey gave up one hit.

Right-hander Anthony Ranaudo, the 39th overall pick in the 2010 draft, started for the Red Sox and threw two hitless innings, striking out four.

Red Sox reliever Andrew Miller walked three batters in the fifth inning and all of them scored, two on Chris Colabello’s double.

Mike Napoli got two hits for Boston. David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia each went 0 for 2.

Twins leadoff hitter Alex Presley, vying to be the starting center fielder, went 0 for 3.

 

Mike Pelfrey, Minnesota Twins
Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images
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