MINNEAPOLIS — It had never happened to John Farrell before. The Red Sox manager hadn’t ever gone to the mound and allowed a pitcher to talk him into staying in a game.

But that’s exactly what happened Saturday night.

With Ryan Dempster sitting at 122 pitches (four more than any Red Sox pitcher had thrown in a single game this season), the Red Sox clinging to a three-run lead with two outs in the fifth inning and Minnesota’s Jamey Carroll coming up, Farrell strolled to the mound for what appeared to be the execution of a pitching change.

But Dempster told his manager he had enough left to get that inning’s final out. That was good enough for Farrell.

“Well, he kind of talked his way into it,” said Farrell of Dempster after the Red Sox’ 12-5...

Red Sox manager John Farrell had planned to give Jacoby Ellsbury his first day off of the season Saturday night, but Shane Victorino’s back still wasn’t quite healthy enough to allow for the outfielder’s return to the lineup. Victorino would have hit leadoff and played centerfield.

Farrell did say prior to the Red Sox’ game against the Twins Saturday night at Target Field that there is some hope that Victorino is ready to return for the teams’ series finale.

“He was hopeful for today last night,” said Farrell of Victorino, who left Thursday night’s game in the ninth inning after colliding with the Tropicana Field fence. “He’s a hard guy to keep out of the lineup because he wants to get in every day and he’ll probably...