The battery of Tim Wakefield and Kevin Cash was too much for the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight. Wakefield tossed seven scoreless innings, limiting the D-Backs to two hits and one walk while Cash caught the knuckleballer and belted a three-run home run off reliever Juan Cruz in the eighth inning to give Boston a 5-0 victory at Fenway Park.
After a tough 2-1 loss in the series opener on Monday, the Red Sox used timely hitting yesterday and this evening as they improved to 49-32 and maintained their one-game lead over Tampa Bay, which pounded the Florida Marlins, 15-3.
Tonight marked the sixth start in a row when Wakefield has given Boston at least seven innings. Here are the veteran knuckleballer's pitching lines in those outings:
- May 28 - One run, five hits, eight strikeouts, no walks and eight innings in a loss to Seattle
- June 2 - Two runs, five hits, three strikeouts, four walks and seven innings in a no-decision against Baltimore
- June 7 - Two runs, five hits, six strikeouts, two walks, seven innings and a win versus Seattle
- June 14 - Two runs, four hits, six strikeouts, two walks and seven innings in a no-decision against Cincinnati
- June 20 - Four runs (three earned), seven hits, four strikeouts, three walks and seven innings in a loss versus St. Louis
- Tonight - No runs, two hits, six strikeouts, one walks, seven innings and the win versus Arizona
Those numbers, my loyal Sox and Pinstripes readers, are why it is worthwhile to absorb the games when Wakefield's knuckler is flat and/or he has trouble throwing strikes and must groove 75 miles per hour fast balls that get knocked around like batting practice. Who knows how much longer Wakefield can be effective as a member of the Red Sox rotation, but right now he is pitching like a 1970s era starter. Yes, there was a time when it was common for starting pitchers to last beyond the sixth inning. Fortunately, the Red Sox have a rotation stocked with those kind of starters.
While Wakefield was breezing through the Diamondbacks lineup, Randy Johnson was pitching a gem of his own. Through six innings of work, the 44-year-old left-hander allowed an RBI groundout to Brandon Moss in the second and a sacrifice fly from Moss in the sixth. Boston broke the game open in the eighth against Cruz when Mike Lowell walked, Coco Crisp ripped his third double of the game and Cash drove his first home run of the season into the parking lot beyond the Green Monster.
There was some ninth inning drama. After Manny Delcarmen pitched a scoreless frame in the eighth, Craig Hansen entered for mop-up duty in the ninth. He issued a leadoff walk to Justin Upton, retired the next two batters and then surrendered a single to Orlando Hudson and a walk to Conor Jackson to load the bases. With the game-tying run on deck, Papelbon entered in a save situation. He struck out Chad Tracy swinging on a 98 miles per hour heater.
It was an encouraging end to the six-game homestand. After losing three of the first four, Boston recovered to post a 3-3 record. The Red Sox are off tomorrow and will open a three-game weekend series at Houston on Friday. Here are the pitching matchups:
- Friday - Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-1, 3.46 ERA) versus Runelvys Hernandez (first start)
- Saturday - Jon Lester (6-3, 3.13 ERA) versus Brandon Backe (5-8, 4.82 ERA)
- Sunday - Josh Beckett (7-5, 3.73 ERA) versus Brian Moehler (4-3, 4.03 ERA)
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