You almost feel badly for guys who've never faced Wakefield before. Especially if, essentially, it's the whole team that's never seen him or, most likely, seen a knuckleball; and the knuckleball is working well. You've got guys who are very good hitters (or, at least, were last year) just standing there or swinging at pitches that are no longer anywhere near the strike zone. Almost.
It was a very good outing for Wakefield. He used one hundred and eight pitches to go five and one third of an inning. He struck out five batters (including striking out the side in the first inning), walked three, gave up six hits and left the game with a five-one lead. (He gave up a home run in the sixth.) And then it got really strange.
Aardsma didn't have the easiest time when he came in to relieve Wakefield in the sixth inning. Wake left with one out and two runners on. Aardsma got a three pitch strike out from the first batter he faced. He went too far inside to the next batter he saw and hit him on the hip to load the bases. He gave up a two run single to the next batter he faced; then walked his fourth batter to reload the bases. Fortunately for him, he got the last batter to foul out to first to end the inning.
Hansen pitched the seventh inning and allowed three runs on two hits (but none of the runs were earned.) He gave up a base hit to the first batter but got the second to strike out swinging. Kap was next and reached on a throwing error by Lowell. The fourth batter of the inning reached on a fielding error by Cora. The fifth batter reached on a fielder's choice and knocked in another Brewer run to cut the Sox lead to one. With runners on first and third, Hansen threw a wild pitch that moved the runner on first over to second and then the sixth Brewer of the inning hit a double that brought in two more runs and gave the Brewers the lead. The inning ended, thankfully, with a foul out to the catcher.
Lopez pitched the eighth inning and while he wasn't exactly cruising through it, at least he didn't allow any more runs to score. He got the first batter to fly out to center. The next batter hit a ground ball back at him which he failed to scoop up and then booted for the error and for the runner to reach. He walked the next batter (the same batter he walked in the day game) but then got the inning ending 6-4-3 double play.
Timlin came out for the ninth inning and I've got to say that I'm not really digging the 'stache. But, I suppose if it means he continues to pitch the way he did tonight, then I can live with it. He got three quick outs, a pop out and two ground outs, to preserve the lead and end the game.
Mike Lowell was responsible for four of the seven runs scored tonight. In the first inning, he doubled to knock in Ortiz (who had walked) and Youkilis (who had gotten a double of his own.) Then in the third inning he hit a homerun over the wall that also brought in Pedroia (who had singled and stolen second.)
They got another run in the fifth inning. Ellsbury reached on the throwing error of the short stop, stole second, and moved over to third on the sacrifice by Pedroia. Ortiz grounded out but then Youkilis reached on the throwing error of the third baseman and knocked in Ellsbury. The inning ended with a fly out by Lowell.
They scored again in the seventh inning. Ellsbury reached on a fielding error by the second baseman. Ellsbury took off for second and Pedroia hit into a fielder's choice but the throw to second was off-Ellsbury was safe and moved over to third, and Pedroia took second. Ortiz grounded out to the shortstop but knocked in Ellsbury. Youkilis then got a bloop single to right to knock in Pedroia. Lowell struck out looking and Youkilis was caught stealing to end the inning.
One thing to say about this game is that they only left five men on base. Not the best thing, considering how close it was, but at least an improvement. The game was sloppy though. The number of errors, on both sides, was ridiculous. For the Brewers (who had been pretty good defensively) and the Red Sox (whose most error-prone player was on the bench) to combine for seven errors in one game is impressive. I think it must speak to the fact that it was a late, long game after a long game earlier in the day. There's probably not too much to be made of it but man.
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