J.D. Drew of the Red Sox slides safely into third as Twins third baseman Matt Tolbert can’t handle the throw during second-inning action last night.

AP / Paul Battaglia

MINNEAPOLIS — There was an awful lot of ugly baseball last night at the Metrodome.

Both teams were guilty of it, from throws to the wrong base to errors on routine plays to wild pitches to plays that should have been made but weren’t.

And it ended in the ugliest of all fashions for Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox — again.

For the second time in a row, Papelbon blew a save, permitting a pair of runs in the ninth as the Minnesota Twins rallied for a 7-6 victory over Boston.

Mike Lamb, who entered the game when Brendan Harris suffered a strained hamstring, dunked a two-out two-run opposite-field single into left toward the line, delivering Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez for the improbable Twins win.

Young opened the inning with a single, went to second on a sacrifice and, after Adam Everett fouled out, he stole third. Gomez drew a walk and swiped his 15th base, setting up Lamb to be the star and Papelbon to be the goat.

Papelbon also blew a save in his last outing, in Detroit, on a two-out broken-bat single by the Tigers’ Placido Polanco.

Lamb’s hit deprived Jon Lester of a win and Dustin Pedroia of the star’s mantle.

Offensively and defensively, Pedroia put the Sox in position to win.

He didn’t get angry against the Twins. He got even.

In the bottom of the fourth, Pedroia hung in and turned an inning-ending double play, getting a struggling Lester (3-2) out of yet another jam. In so doing, Pedroia was taken out hard — and legally — by Gomez.

Gomez slid in and took Pedroia’s legs out from under him, flipping him to the dirt a split-second after Pedroia released his strong accurate throw to first, doubling up Brendan Harris.

Pedroia got up slowly. He didn’t so much as glance behind him at Gomez as he trotted gingerly off the field with the Sox trailing, 5-2.

It so happened Pedroia was leading off the next inning. And if his legs were hurting, it didn’t show. Pedroia hit a shattered-bat grounder a step or two to the right of second baseman Harris. He fielded the ball cleanly, took his time in the form of an extra crow hop and threw to first.

Pedroia, though, was running hard out of the box, conceding nothing. He beat the throw to first for an infield single on what should have been a routine out had Harris either charged the ball a step or thrown in one motion as he received the ball, instead of crow-hopping.

Pedroia clapped his hands in satisfaction as he slowed down past the bag.

The next the Twins knew, they were losing, 6-5. Pedroia’s hustle single sparked a four-run surge.

A walk to Ortiz, a bloop single by Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell’s two-run double knocked out starter Boof Bonser. Kevin Youkilis’ grounder off reliever Juan Rincon tied the game and a wild pitch by Rincon put the Sox ahead by a run, at 6-5.

The Twins, though, threatened to tie the game in the sixth. Pedroia wouldn’t let them.

With Young at first and two outs, Adam Everett launched an extra-base hit into left-center off David Aardsma. Jacoby Ellsbury cut off the ball in the gap as Young was racing around the bases, the Twins’ third-base coach Scott Ullger clearly ready to wave him home.

Minnesota’s cause looked great when Ellsbury overthrew his cutoff man, Julio Lugo, by about 15 feet. But Pedroia, serving as the secondary cutoff man, grabbed the ball, pivoted and made a strong throw to catcher Jason Varitek, who blocked the plate and tagged out the sliding Young in a bang-bang play, preserving Boston’s 6-5 lead.

And in the seventh, just for good measure, Pedroia zipped over to cover first when speedy Gomez tried to bunt his way on leading off the inning. Pedroia took the throw from first baseman Youkilis, turning what could have been a close play into an easy out.

Pedroia couldn’t do everything, though. Manager Terry Francona didn’t use him on the mound, so it was up to Hideki Okajima and Papelbon to nail down the final nine outs.

Okajima entered the game at the start of the seventh and retired the six batters he faced on only 15 pitches, but Papelbon couldn’t get the job done as the Sox fell to 3-2 on the 10-game trip.

skrasner@projo.com