The Red Sox’ Kevin Youkilis watches the flight of his two-run home run off the Twins’ Kevin Slowey in the fourth inning of last night’s game at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla.

AP / Steven Senne

FORT MYERS, Fla. — As the Red Sox graduated from college opponents to major-league play last night, the competition was tougher, but the result was the same.

After sweeping two college teams by a combined 39-0 score Thursday, the Sox had to be content with an 8-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins in their Grapefruit League opener.

The Sox were powered by home runs by Kevin Youkilis (two-run shot) and Jason Varitek (solo) in the fourth and George Kottaras, who hit a three-run belt to right in the ninth. They also added runs on RBI hits by Coco Crisp and Gil Velazquez.

Seven Red Sox pitchers combined to limit the Twins to eight hits. Two of the three Minnesota runs came in the bottom of the ninth off Lee Gronkiewicz.

Daisuke Matsuzaka started and needed just 12 pitches to get through two innings. He threw another 52 pitches in the bullpen to complete his night of work.

“We’d rather have him do that in a controlled environment,” said manager Terry Francona, “so he can get stretched out without the adrenaline.”

Three Sox hitters had two hits, led by Crisp, who also had an RBI, a walk and a stole base.

“He looks pretty hungry — good for him,” said Francona. “I think he feels like he has a lot to prove.”

It pays to save

The Sox will have Josh Beckett pitch a “B” game against the Twins at City of Palms Park Monday morning, saving Beckett a three-hour bus ride to Jupiter, where the Sox are scheduled to meet the Florida Marlins that afternoon.

“We felt like we had between seven to nine innings of pitching we wanted to account for (that day),” said Francona. “Actually, the Twins approached us. We had the pitching, so due to the abbreviated spring training, it gives us nine more innings to see pitching. We actually don’t have enough position players, so we’re going to have to scuffle [to find it].”

The numbers game

The Sox are still grappling with roster issues as they relate to the Japan trip.

Major League Baseball is allowing the Sox and Oakland A’s to take 30 players to Tokyo, though only 25 can be active at once. The rest will comprise a sort of traveling taxi squad.

“Say (Tim Wakefield) pitches the exhibition game the day before,” said Francona. “We can [deactivate] him. Even if you don’t have a [third] catcher active, you probably have to have one over there in case something happened.”

What’s the rush?

The Sox aren’t ready to commit to Bartolo Colon’s first game appearance. He’s been shooting for March 9, while the Sox have March 15 in mind.

“The timetable is how he feels physically,” Francona said. “That’s what we’re shooting for. I think if you get into those artificial Opening Day [projections], I think you make mistakes. You try to keep the big picture in mind. He’s showing good arm strength. I’m glad he’s excited. He’s shooting for the ninth. If that works, good. If not, in our opinion, it’s not the end of the world.”

Next up for Colon is a bullpen session Tuesday, in which he will throw for about eight-to-nine minutes. Such sessions “will provide us opportunities to evaluate his arm strength, how he recovers,” said pitching coach John Farrell, “and he’ll go through a similar every other day bullpen routine as every other pitcher went through at the start of camp here."

Around the bases

Last night represented the Sox’ only night game in Florida this spring, but hardly the last meeting with the Twins, the Sox’ cross-city spring rival. The two teams meet again this afternoon (Minnesota’s Hammond Stadium) and tomorrow (City of Palms Park), as well as Friday and again on March 12. At stake is the Red Sox’ possession of the cherished Mayor’s Cup, awarded annually to the team which wins the spring series. Last year, the Sox were 3-1-1 to win their first Cup since 2004 and just the fifth time since the teams started sharing the city in 1993. … Until last night, the Sox had never before in their history played a game on Feb. 29. ... Jon Lester will make his first spring start for the Sox this afternoon, followed by Jonathan Papelbon, Devern Hansack and David Pauley. … The Sox were visited by union chief Donald Fehr and his staff for their annual meeting with Players Association personnel. The meeting lasted approximately 90 minutes.

smcadam@projo.com