FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The battle for the Mayor’s Cup is on.

And the Twins haven taken the quick lead.

The Red Sox won the battle of Fort Myers last year, by winning the (pre)season series with their crosstown rivals, but Minnesota got a quick leg up on the Sox with a 5-2 victory Wednesday night at Hammond Stadium in the first of five games against the Twins this spring.

Minnesota holds a 10-6 advantage in the annual series.

After the Sox defeated Boston College 7-1 in their annual exhibition game Wednesday afternoon at City of Palms Park Wednesday, Boston sent Tim Wakefield to the mound Wednesday night for his first start this spring.

The veteran knuckleballer is back for his 15th season with Boston and he worked two innings, allowing three runs (two earned) with two walks.

"I would like to have better results, but I felt fine," Wakefield said. "The shoulder felt fine. I think I need to work out the rust a little bit. It was the first time in a game facing hitters. I just need to work on some things."

Wakefield admitted he felt a little fatigued in the second inning, but was able to work out of it. His next outing will be on Sunday when he follows starter Josh Beckett against the Twins.

Wednesday night was also the return of the Josh Bard/Wakefield battery.

The two attempted to work together at the start of the 2006 season, but the Sox traded Bard to the Padres and brought Doug Mirabelli back after Bard struggled in the first month of the season. Bard signed with the Sox this offseason and wants nothing more than to put the ’06 season behind him and concentrate on the task at hand.

At one point during the game with the Red Sox batting, Wakefield and Bard were discussing a few things. Wakefield has said, even back in 2006, that he trust Bard to handle the job and he was comfortable with him Thursday night.

"It was fine," said Wakefield. "I thought he did a great job."

Even though it was the club’s first Grapefruit League game and the regular season still seems a long way off, nothing changes for Wakefield.

"You don’t want to make a fool out of yourself, so you have to get your adrenaline up," he said. "I felt really good out of the windup today, but out of the stretch I felt a little rusty."

The Grapefruit League season continues today when the Sox host the Pirates at 1:05 p.m.