Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell connects for a double with the bases loaded, driving in two runs against Twins starting pitcher Boof Bonser in the fifth inning last night.

AP / Paul Battaglia

MINNEAPOLIS — To throw or not to throw.

That was the question at the center of the early scoring last night at the Metrodome.

Rookie center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury misjudged his arm strength and Brendan Harris’ speed, possibly costing the Red Sox a couple of runs and numerous extra pitches for starter Jon Lester in the opening inning against the aggressive Twins.

Harris was on first with one out when Joe Mauer hit a hard grounder up the middle for a base hit. Harris never hesitated rounding second and steamed toward third. Ellsbury put a good charge on the ball and scooped it off the turf.

Ellsbury didn’t have a good chance to throw out Harris, but he took the shot anyway. His throw was late. Mauer read the play perfectly, zipping around first when he saw Ellsbury’s throw sailing to third baseman Mike Lowell.

Mauer’s hustle beat Lowell’s throw to Dustin Pedroia at the bag, giving the Twins runners at second and third with one out.

Had Ellsbury thrown to second base, as he should have, an inning-ending double play still would have been in order. Justin Morneau, the next batter, hit a bouncer to shortstop Julio Lugo, a tailor-made DP ball. Lugo threw out Morneau at first as Harris scored.

There’s no way of knowing if Morneau would have hit that same grounder to short, or if the pitch sequence to him would have been the same had Mauer remained at first.

But the throw to third kept the Sox from having a chance to get out of the inning on a double play. Minnesota added another run on a broken-bat ground single up the middle by Michael Cuddyer for a 2-0 lead.

Lester wound up throwing 27 pitches in the inning, 15 after Morneau’s bouncer.

Ironically, a similar situation came up in the next half-inning for Minnesota center fielder Carlos Gomez. J.D. Drew was on first for the Sox when Jason Varitek laced an RBI single to center.

Drew tried to go from first to third. Gomez came up firing, and his one-hop throw would have nailed drew, but the ball hit Drew and bounded away for an error, permitting Varitek to get to second while Drew held at third. Drew scored the tying run on Lugo’s grounder to third.

Errors mount for Lugo

Shaky defense by –– who else? –– Lugo, the Sox’ shortstop, cost Boston two more runs and Lester 10 extra pitches in the second inning. With two outs and a runner at second, Gomez hit a routine inning-ending bouncer to Lugo.

The ball was right at him. He took a few steps in and bobbled the ball. He scrambled, picked it up and threw to first, but too late to get Gomez.

It was Lugo’s major-league-leading 11th error, an astounding and alarming total in only his 35th game.

This one didn’t take a late, bad hop. This was not a difficult chance. He didn’t even pick up his head and take his eye off the ball. This was just a case of stone hands — the ball hit his glove and popped out.

The Twins eventually scored two runs for a 4-2 lead because Lester couldn’t pick up Lugo. He was tagged for a two-run single by Harris.

He threw 10 extra pitches after Lugo’s error, pushing his two-inning total to a whopping 57 pitches.

Youkilis is on the run

Kevin Youkilis, who reached on a strike three/wild pitch, swiped second base in the second inning, giving the Red Sox their 21st consecutive stolen base, a club record since 1920 when such records were kept, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Lugo made it 22 in a row in the fourth inning, but Drew was cut down stealing in the fifth, ending the record streak at 22.

Cora and Casey are set to return

Alex Cora (elbow) was due to play in his last rehab game for the PawSox yesterday, and Sean Casey (hip) was slated to play in his next-to-last one, but rain foiled that plan.

So today, with a doubleheader scheduled in Pawtucket, Boston manager Terry Francona said they would each play in the first game for the PawSox and rejoin the Red Sox in Minnesota in time for tomorrow night’s game.

Once they arrive, a couple of roster moves will have to be made.

Rookie Jed Lowrie would seem to be the logical candidate to be dropped to Pawtucket when Cora is added. And, with the Red Sox having 13 pitchers instead of their normal complement of 12, a reliever is likely to be at risk. Craig Hansen has options, so unless something more dramatic is done to make room for Casey, it’s possible he could be returning to Pawtucket.

Bartolo Colon (oblique), meanwhile, will begin to work his way back to Boston by starting the first game for the PawSox. He is expected to work the first three innings.

Going pink to fight breast cancer

A shipment of pink baseball bats arrived in the Sox’ clubhouse yesterday and will be used tomorrow night for the Mother’s Day game in an effort to foster awareness of breast cancer and the need for more research to combat the disease.

Manny Ramirez seemed especially excited to receive his pink bats. They will nicely complement the new reddish/pink baseball glove he unwrapped at his locker.

All the position players received pink bats.

Delcarmen finds his target

It was only one inning. And it wasn’t a highly pressurized situation.

But the fact remains that, for the first time in a while, Manny Delcarmen came out of the bullpen and pitched a relatively clean inning. The right-hander finished off the Sox’ 5-1 win in Detroit on Thursday night.

Delcarmen allowed one hit, a two-out single, but also fanned one in working a scoreless inning.

That performance was in stark contrast to his previous six outings, a stretch in which he was scored on in five of the games and left the other one with two on and one out, thankful those runners were stranded.

Extra bases

Ortiz “owns” Boof Bonser, Minnesota’s starter last night. He entered the game 5-for-6 with two homers and three RBI against the right-hander and ripped a double to right in the first inning. Bonser, though, retired him on a popup in the third. … Backup catcher Kevin Cash worked on drills to block balls in the dirt as well as some hand-eye coordination drills before batting practice with catching instructor/bullpen coach Gary Tuck.

skrasner@projo.com