BOSTON — Bobby Valentine knows what role he wants Franklin Morales to fill on his pitching staff.

Now, it's just a matter of the Boston Red Sox manager making it work logistically.

“I like him as a starter,” Valentine said after Morales, recently a reliever, started and pitched six innings Sunday to lead the Red Sox to a much-needed 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins.

The victory, fueled by a two-run homer (No. 11) by Adrian Gonzalez and three hits by Carl Crawford, snapped a four-game losing streak and allowed Boston to avert its first four-game home sweep at the hands of the Twins in 21 years.

Morales, who had been pitching well as a starter before being sent back to the bullpen, made his first start since July 13, working in place of Josh Beckett (pushed back to Wednesday because of a back spasm). The lefty gave up a run on three hits to raise his record to 3-2. In short, he was a lifesaver to his manager and team.

“Right now, I don't think we have to do anything with Franklin and make any total determination,” Valentine said. “We have a tough Texas team coming in right now, our bullpen's a little wobbly, we're a guy short out there and all that good stuff, so we'll play it by ear.”

Valentine made it clear Morales would get two days of rest and it sounded as if he'd be available out of the bullpen for Wednesday's game.

“I think it's an easy decision; we just have to figure out all the other parts,” Valentine said of starting Morales. “He wants to start, I want him to start; we just have to figure out how. ... We can't always count on a guy always getting injured to miss a start and plugging him in. He's been lights-out out there.”

Morales is 3-1 with a 3.06 ERA in six starts this season, and that includes a six-run, four-homer, 3 1/3-inning start against the Yankees. He has yielded just five runs in his other six starts.

“That's not my decision,” Morales said of his desire to start. “I'll be there for the team, to help the team, in any situation the manager needs me.”

The Sox, who blew a game when the Twins scored four runs in the ninth inning Saturday night, a third straight painful loss to a losing team, had to sweat this one out, too. With Boston ahead 6-1, Vicente Padilla yielded a mammoth homer on his third pitch, Josh Willingham's 28th of the year, then walked Justin Morneau and served up another hefty homer, Ryan Doumit's 11th of the year.

Saturday night victim Alfredo Aceves came on to get the last three outs, in order, for his 23rd save.

Crawford, playing on his 31st birthday, went 3-for-5 (7-for-14 in the last three games) with an RBI groundout and a stolen base in the win. His last time up, he hit a line drive right at first baseman Morneau.

“I'd like his birthday to be every day,” Valentine said.

With the Sox up 2-1, Gonzalez hit his 11th homer of the season, an opposite-field shot off loser Nick Blackburn (4-7) in the fifth inning. Cody Ross' second hit of the game, an RBI single, made it 5-1 in the seventh, and Jacoby Ellsbury's sacrifice fly brought in another run in the eighth. As it turned out, the runs were needed. Blackburn, gone after the five innings, is 17-35 with a 5.71 ERA lifetime on the road.