MINNEAPOLIS -- If Daniel Bard had forgotten what it's like to come out of the bullpen with the game on the line, he was reminded in a hurry Monday night.
Skipped in the starting rotation after Sunday's rainout at Fenway and temporarily loaned out to the bullpen for a night or two, Bard was given a re-trial by fire in the eighth inning.
In a 5-5 game with a runner on third and one out, Bard was called upon by manager Bobby Valentine to bail the Sox out of a precarious spot.
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He got a lineout from Josh Willingham, and following an intentional walk to Justin Morneau, retired Ryan Doumit on a looping pop to shallow left field, stranding Jamey Carroll, representing the go-ahead run, at third.
"We had a tough situation there," acknowledged Valentine. "I didn't think it would be that tough for him to come into."
"It just felt like the same thing I've done for the last few years," maintained Bard. "Same deal -- you're just trying to get outs."
Whatever approach the Red Sox bullpen had been using in the first 14 games, it wasn't working. Boston relievers had a collective 8.44 ERA, including Saturday's debacle against the Yankees when the Sox bullpen allowed 14 runs over two innings, blowing a 9-1 lead in the process.
For Bard, the feeling wasn't entirely unfamiliar than what Bard had been doing as a starter.
"I was in jams my last start, too," noted Bard, "and worked out of those so it's really not all that different. You're just a lot fresher when you haven't thrown any pitches before you get into them."
Bard thought he had rung up Willingham on a 2-and-2 inside fastball, but didn't get the call from home plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth.
On the next pitch, a slider down in the zone, was lined hard by Willingham, but right at third baseman Kevin Youkilis for the second out.
After the free pass to Morneau, Bard bore down and got Doumit to hit a looping fly ball to shallow left which shortstop Mike Aviles snared for the final out.
As Bard came off the mound having thrown only 11 pitches -- and four of those were part of the intentional walk -- he was unsure whether he might return for the ninth.
Manager Bobby Valentine told him he might go back if the game was still tied. If the Sox were up, Valentine was committing to embattled closer Alfredo Aceves.
"I had a guy down there who's going to have to save a lot of games for us," said Valentine of Aceves. "And I thought Daniel had done his job and I wanted to Alfredo to do his."
Aceves, who had two saves and two blown saves, got Danny Valencia on a comebacker for the first out, then allowed a one-out single to Chris Parmelee.
Trevor Plouffe then put a scare into the Red Sox when he cracked a flyball to deep left which Cody Ross settled under on the warning track.
That prompted a visit from Valentine, who wondered, only half-jokingly, "Are you trying to kill me? What else would you say in a situation like that? I thought we were tight."
The remark brought some levity to the mound, and Aceves went about getting Denard Span on a game-ending comebacker.
"That feeling again of winning games is always good," concluded Bard. "It gives us a little more momentum going into tomorrow."