Yes, the Red Sox won, but for a while, the question will be at what cost.

That was because of a bold decision by manager Terry Francona to stick with starter Clay Buchholz after a 127-minute rain delay. The right-hander was brilliant through two innings, but then came a pair of storm systems that soaked Fenway Park.

The Twins went the conservative route, lifting starter Brian Duensing from the game. No one would have batted an eye had Francona done the same with Buchholz.

But he did not. According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports, the right-hander stayed warm by throwing simulated innings under the stands. It was a bold gambit, and ultimately a rewarding one. Buchholz returned to the mound to deliver three more shutout innings, getting deep enough into the game not only to earn the victory in the Sox’ 4-0 triumph over the Twins, but also to keep the bullpen intact so that four different pitchers (Rich Hill, Matt Albers, Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon) could have manageable workloads.

However, the measure of the game will be taken in the coming days and starts, when a determination is made about how much — if at all — Buchholz was impacted by the lengthy down-time in the middle of his outing.

A couple caveats that might help to explain the rationale for the decision are in order:

1) Buchholz has a rubber arm. He is the only Sox starter who does not need to ice after outings.

2) The right-hander was only asked to throw 61 pitches on Saturday. Of those, just 31 came after the delay.

3) The Sox have an off-day on Thursday, and so they have the ability to adjust the amount of rest they give to Buchholz if necessary.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

–Clay Buchholz delivered one of the most impressive five-inning starts in recent Red Sox memory. On a day when he was able to pound the strike zone with his fastball, change, curve and cutter, Buchholz had a line that would have been stellar in its own right. He tossed five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while punching out six Twins. He needed just 61 pitches.

But to look at the outing without marveling at what Buchholz did after a 2-hour, 7-minute rain delay would be a mistake. Under uniquely challenging circumstances, Buchholz pulled the plug in the middle of his outing, waited out a multiple-front weather system that took as long to pass as some complete starts, then warmed back up and got on the mound.

That he was able to give the Sox even a single inning was eye-opening. But he did much, much more.

He struck out the first batter he faced (Luke Hughes) on three pitches. He breezed through the third inning in just eight total pitches (seven strikes). Each  of his nine fourth-inning pitches was a strike. He then opened the fifth with a four-pitch strikeout before his command finally faltered, as he issued a six-pitch walk to Rene Rivera and falling behind Hughes, 3-1. But then, in a play that may well have been the difference between Buchholz winning the game and getting a no-decision, Hughes hit a liner towards left that Jed Lowrie caught on a dive to his left before getting up to double up Rivera.

Buchholz has now allowed two runs in 11 2/3 innings (1.59 ERA) in his last two starts, both wins.

–It took Rich Hill little time to emerge as the Red Sox left-on-left matchup reliever of choice. When Buchholz left the game, manager Terry Francona summoned Hill (who was selected from Triple-A Pawtucket on Thursday) rather than Hideki Okajima to handle the dangerous left-handers at the top of the Twins order.

Though Hill walked Denard Span to lead off the inning and then hit the right-handed Trevor Plouffe with a fastball to put runners on first and second with no outs, he quickly and dazzlingly recovered. Hill got Twins No. 3 hitter Justin Morneau to roll over a curveball for a 3-6-1 double play. Then, with two outs and a man on third, Hill struck out Jason Kubel at another curveball. Hill has now thrown 2 1/3 shutout innings since joining the big league club, and he’s now made eight appearances with the Red Sox (between 2010 and 2011) without allowing an earned run.

Hill is the 17th pitcher since 1919 to begin his Red Sox career with eight straight outings in which he did not yield an earned run. The longest streak was the 13-game Sox unveiling by Ramon Ramirez in 2009.

–Hill’s outing commenced a nearly perfect bullpen relay by the Sox, who received a shutout inning each from Hill, Albers, Bard and Papelbon.

–Lowrie committed a second-inning error at third base (a position he was playing with Kevin Youkilis serving as DH on a day when David Ortiz was out of the lineup) — his third in two days — but he more than atoned for the gaffe. For starters, his diving play was a pivotal play in the game, at a time when Buchholz was starting to falter. Secondly, he drove in the first Red Sox run with two outs in the first, when he lined a single to left against Minnesota starter Brian Duensing.

The hit improved Lowrie to 15-for-35 (.429 average) with 10 RBI on the year against left-handed pitchers.

–Jacoby Ellsbury wasted little time in extending his hitting streak to 16 games, clubbing a double off the Wall in left field to lead off the top of the first. It was noteworthy that Ellsbury got the hit against Duensing, thus becoming just the second left-handed hitter this year to get an extra-base hit against the southpaw. Ellsbury later added a two-run single.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

–Kevin Youkilis went 2-for-4 and drove in the Sox’ second run, so to identify his day as something that went wrong would be somewhat inaccurate. That said, it became evident that he is displeased with some element of his plate approach, on a day when he struck out twice. The first was nearly costly, as Youkilis went down swinging with runners on second and third and one out, making him 0-for-9 with seven strikeouts in such situations this year. (Lowrie bailed out Youkilis with his two-out single.) Then, in the seventh, he punched out with two on and two out against fireballing Twins left-hander Glen Perkins. As he returned to the dugout, Youkilis slammed his hand on a padded dugout bench in apparent frustration.

Youkilis has now struck out 31 times in 124 plate appearances this year, a 25 percent rate that would represent a career high.