Woot for run support for Wakefield! I'm sure he's appreciative.
The win makes 158 Red Sox wins for Wake. Like he has done in his last couple of outings, Wakefield pitched really well tonight. He threw one hundred and six pitches over seven innings. He gave up only five hits and allowed only two runs. He struck out six and walked two. He had five 1-2-3 innings and got a couple of Mariners to take absolutely ridiculous swings for strikes.
Hansen came out to pitch the eighth inning. He seemed to be having trouble throwing strikes; three out of the four batters he faced were served balls to start their at-bats. He gave up a hit to the first batter he faced (Ichiro) but he was out at second on a very nice play by Cora when the next batter grounded into a fielder's choice. The third batter popped out to second and the last batter grounded into a fielder's choice and they took the force out at second.
Papelbon came out to finish the game. When he's not pitching in a save situation and he doesn't have the adrenaline going, Papelbon occasionally runs into trouble. Today's problem occurred when the first batter he faced reached on a Youkilis error (his first error in 238 games.) The runner would later take second and come around to score when the second batter got a base hit. After that Papelbon got his act together and struck out the next two batters and got the last batter to fly out to right.
Since Ortiz has been out, JD Drew seems to have flourished. Batting in the third spot and with two outs in the first inning, he hit a triple. Manny followed him up with number 504 to left and put the Sox on the board first.
They would score again in the fourth inning. With one out and the score tied, Moss drew a walk. Cash would then fly out to center for the second out. But Cora then came back with a double that brought in Moss. Not to be outdone, Coco followed that up with a single that brought in Cora and put the Sox up by two.
Manny started off the fifth inning by drawing a walk. Casey got a base hit. Youkilis flied out for the first out. Moss drew a walk to load the bases. Then, Seattle brought in their knuckleballer. Cash popped out to second for the second out. A knuckleball got away from the Seattle catcher and everyone moved up a base-including Manny who came around to score. Cora popped out to end the inning.
In the sixth inning, Drew hit a home run to center.
They would score again in the eighth inning-to make the stomping official. Cora started things off with a single but Coco lined out to right for the first out. Lugo got a base hit and Cora moved to second. Drew got a single, which brought Cora around. Manny walked to load the bases and Ellsbury ran for him. Lowell hit another double and brought in two more runs (Lugo and Drew.) Youkilis followed that up with a double of his own, which brought in Lugo and Ellsbury-as-Manny. Moss popped out and Cash struck out to end the inning.
I've got to say that Lugo had a really nice game. It's good to see Lugo smile-I'd still be scared to death to meet him in real life but it's good to see him smile. He fielded five ground balls, including an inning ending double play in the seventh. They showed him coming off the field after the play and he must have said something to Wake like "Did you see that? Wasn't that great?" because Wakefield gave him this little eyebrow-raised nod that seemed to say "Yeah. Yeah. I did. I was right here." He also caught a line out and a pop-out. He had a hit, a sacrifice bunt, and a walk. So, good on Lugo.
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