Tim Wakefield’s dominant pitching helps Boston Red Sox overpower Chicago Cubs, 5-1 – MLB Update
Boston Red Sox starter, Tim Wakefield had a notable day with the ball as he threw six overriding innings with an ERA of 4.50 and had three strike-outs in the Red Sox 5-1 victory against the Chicago Cubs at Fenway Park, Boston on May 22.
Wakefield permitted just one run on four hits including one earned run. He did not give away a walk in his 75 pitches. Wakefield expressed his excitement as, “When you're asked to do a job and you do it well -- I take a lot of pride in that.”
During the first three innings, the batters from both teams failed to score a single run. The Red Sox opened their scoring account in the fourth inning by adding two runs in it and led off with 2-0. Jed Lowrie hit a sacrifice fly to centre-field position
and Adrian Gonzalez scored a single run. The second run was taken by Youkilis on the sacrifice bunt of Mike Cameron to centre-field.
The Red Sox were on top in the fifth inning as they got a 3-0 lead when Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a home run (384 feet) to left-field spot. Wakefield pitched pretty well in first six innings as he did not allow any run to the rivals’ batters. The Red Sox
Manager Terry Francona was pleased with the Wakefield’s performance. Francona said, “Boy, he was really good. I guess it shouldn't amaze me because he's been doing that for such a long time.”
The sixth inning was score-less for both sides. But in the seventh inning, both the teams contributed some runs to their individual score-cards. Starlin Castro posted a run for the Cubs when Jeff Baker doubled to deep left-centre. Dustin Pedroia and Gonzalez
scored two runs on the triple-run shot of Youkilis towards the deep centre-field. The score-board moved to 5-1 at the end of seventh inning.
No score was added in the eighth and ninth inning. The Cubs’ Manager Mike Quade was frustrated with the loss. During press conference, Quade said, “We just couldn't solve Wakefield. He's been a wonderful guy for this organization for I don't know how many
years. I've lost track.”
James Russell was much too expensive as he pitched four innings with an ERA of 6.33 and allowed three runs on seven hits.
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