For the second straight outing, Tim Wakefield was nothing short of brilliant and the offense backed him with three 2-run homers as the Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 10-1 in a rain-shortened 7-inning affair in front of an announced crowd of 37,290 at Fenway Park.
It’s the 6th straight win for the Red Sox who are now 8-6 while the Twins fall to 7-8.
Wakefield only really got into trouble once this afternoon and continued the effort that started this Red Sox winning streak. Wake went all 7 innings, allowing just the one run on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 4.
This was the second straight start for Twins starter Scott Baker giving up at least 3 home runs. In his first start, he was tagged for 4 of them. He went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 6 runs on 10 hits and a walk with 2 strikeouts. Former Sox reliever Craig Breslow went 1 1/3 innings with a strikeout.
Juan Morillo didn’t fare any better than Baker as he gave up 4 runs on a hit and 3 walks while not recording an out. R.A. Dickey allowed two hits before the tarp was called for.
Kevin Youkilis, Nick Green and Mike Lowell all had 2-run homers for the Red Sox this afternoon. J.D. Drew had a perfect afternoon at the plate going 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and a walk. Lowell had 3 hits and 3 RBIs while Green had 2 hits and 3 RBIs. David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury also had 2 hits for the Sox.
Baker got off to a good start in the bottom of the 1st as he got the first two outs of the inning. Big Papi then reached on an excuse me single to left and Youk took a pitch the other way and wrapped it around Pesky’s Pole for a 2-0 Red Sox lead. Drew then hit a double but Baker got Jason Bay to ground out.
Lowell flew out to center to start the 2nd and then Baker issued a walk to George Kottaras. Green brought him in with a blast over the Green Monster to push the Red Sox lead to 4-1. Ellsbury singled and stole second with Pedroia at the plate who ended up flying out with Ellsbury going to third. Big Papi fouled out to third base to end the inning.
More two-out fun for the Red Sox in the 3rd inning.
Baker struck out Youk to start the inning but Drew added his second double of the afternoon. After a Bay line out to right, Lowell brought him in when he took a Baker offering and put into the Green Monster seats for a 6-0 Red Sox lead.
The only inning Wakefield had trouble with was the 5th.
He got things started with a strikeout of Nick Punto. Carlos Gomez followed with a double and then Wake nailed Denard Span with a knuckleball. Green then made his second error of the afternoon that allowed Alexi Casilla to reach and load the bases up for the Canadian Crusher Justin Morneau. He delivered a single that scored Gomez to cut the lead to 6-1. Wakefield got out of trouble though as he got Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer to pop out to first base.
As if they needed any more insurance runs, the Red Sox struck for 4 more before the play was halted.
Morillo took over for Breslow and allowed a leadoff double (almost a home run) to Big Papi. He then issued three straight walks to Youk, Drew and Bay with the last one bringing Big Papi. Dickey came in and gave up a RBI single to Lowell, sac fly to Kottaras and RBI ground-rule double to Green before the game was stopped.
Another solid win for the Red Sox as they are taking advantage of some poor pitching by the opposition. As Ellsbury and Big Papi continue to get hits, the Red Sox continue to win.
And there’s not much more to say about Wake other than that he’s been outstanding of late.
Let’s hope that Brad Penny can rebound in the nightcap (weather permitting of course). He’ll be opposed by Francisco Liriano in a game that is scheduled to start at 7:10 PM on NESN Plus.
Notes and musings:
Minnesota Twins @ Boston Red Sox Game 1 4.22.09 box score
Today marks the 4th time since 1970 that Boston and Minnesota have met for day/night tilts at Fenway and the first since 1996 when the Red Sox won the day game 6-3 and the Twins won at night, 6-0. The Sox swept the Twins in day-night doubleheaders on August 15, 1970 and June 24, 1989.
The Sox last day-night doubleheader came on the last day of the regular season last year, with Boston dropping the day game to the Yankees and winning at night.
Today is Terry Francona’s 50th birthday. He now has a 4-4 record on his special day with the win.
With 2 RBI in Monday afternoon’s win, David Ortiz moved into a tie with Joe Cronin for 10th on the Red Sox all-time RBI list with 737.
For the second consecutive year, the Red Sox are announcing a series of initiatives during the 2009 season that reflect the team’s commitment to exploring the use of environmentally-sustainable habits and technologies. Additionally, on the occasion of Earth Day, sponsored by National Grid (the energy provider who partnered with the Red Sox on last year’s installation of solar thermal panels, the first of its kind in MLB) all Red Sox uniformed personnel will be wearing green hats and the Red Sox greening logo on the sleeve of their uniform during tonight’s 7:10 p.m. game.
Red Sox on streaks:
- Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 7 games
- Mike Lowell extended his hitting streak to 7 games
- Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 5 games
- Kevin Youkilis now has a 4 game hitting streak and has reached safely in all 14 games
- Jason Varitek has a 3 game hitting streak
