The Texas Rangers were able to take advantage of Tim Wakefield’s wildness as they went on to a 15-8 win over the Boston Red Sox in front of 38,208 at Rangers Ballpark In Arlington. The loss for the Red Sox ended a 4-game losing streak and was the Rangers first win over the Red Sox this season.
It was not a pretty night for Tim Wakefield and the Boston Red Sox.
With the Tampa Bay Rays losing, the Red Sox had a chance to gain ground in the AL East but were unable to do so when all of the sudden someone flipped a switch and Wakefield’s knuckleball stopped working. All told, Wake went 1 2/3 innings, allowing 7 runs on 4 hits and 4 hits. It was definitely not the result he was looking for in his 500th appearance in a Red Sox uniform. It was also the second shortest outing of his career.
It was just one of those nights for the bullpen as well.
Chris Smith worked 2 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits. Javier Lopez allowed a walk in 1/3 of an inning. Mike Timlin went 2 innings, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and David Pauley went the final 2 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits. He did strikeout 4.
Mike Lowell, Jed Lowrie and Coco Crisp all had 2 hits for the Red Sox while Kevin Youkilis returned to the Red Sox lineup and went 1-for-3 with a 3-run homer. Mark Kotsay added 2 RBI to bring his total 9 in a Sox uniform. The only two starters without hits were Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Cash.
Believe it or not, the Red Sox got on the scoreboard first in the 2nd inning.
Rangers starter Matt Harrison, who was making his first appearance against the Red Sox, struck out Youk to start the inning. Jason Bay followed with a double to deep center and went to third on a Lowell single. Lowrie’s single scored Bay to put the Red Sox up 1-0. Crisp then hit a single and a great throw nailed Lowell at the plate for the second out of the inning. Cash flew out to end the 2nd.
Things were seemingly going well for Wakefield early on. He got the first 5 Rangers hitters out on just 12 pitches. Yes just 12 pitches. 37 more pitches later and it was 7-1.
Gerald Laird hit a 2-out double and went to third on a Wakefield wild pitch with Chris Davis at the dish. Davis would end up walking and Laird scored on a passed ball by Cash. Davis then stole second before Nelson Cruz worked a walk as Wake’s control was slipping away. German Duran followed with a single to score Davis to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Wake then hit Frank Catalanotto with a pitch to load up the bases. Two walks bases loaded walks later, it was 4-1.
Josh Hamilton followed the two walks with a 2-run single to push the lead to 6-1 and another single by Hank Blalock drove in another run to make it 7-1. That ended the night for Wakefield, who didn’t look pleased that Terry Francona came out to get him. Smith came in and got the last out of the inning without throwing a pitch. He did the old step of the rubber, look at third and throw over to first to catch the runner. We all know it never usually works but tonight it did as Blalock was picked off first.
Kevin Youkilis returned to the lineup and hit a 3-run homer.
In the 3rd, Pedroia worked a 1-out walk and went to third on a David Ortiz single. They both came around to score when Youk smashed a 3-run homer to cut the lead to 7-4.
The Rangers got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning when Laird doubled and Cruz crushed a home run to center field to give the Rangers a 9-4 lead.
Timlin took over in the 5th inning and got the first two outs before Cruz blasted another home run, this time to left field. It wasn’t any better for Timlin in the 6th either.
Brandon Boggs hit a 1-out triple to deep center and came in to score on a Michael Young single. Hamilton then hit a triple to drive in Young to make it 12-4. Hamilton crossed the plate on a Laird double to put the game out of reach at 13-4.
The Rangers added 2 insurance runs in the 8th inning when Cruz doubled in Laird and Davis, who had both singled off of Pauley.
As we’ve seen all season, the Red Sox didn’t go lightly in the 9th inning.
Kameron Loe struck out Lowell to start the inning then gave up 3 straight singles to Lowrie, Crisp and David Ross. A Kotsay single knocked in 2 runs to cut it to 15-6 as the Rangers bullpen started to stir. Loe struck out Alex Cora for the second out but a Sean Casey single scored Ross to make it 15-7. Warner Madrigal came in for the Rangers and Jeff Bailey greeted him with a RBI single to provide the final score of 15-8. Madrigal struck out Bay to end the game.
Notes and musings:
Red Sox @ Rangers 9.6.08 boxscore
Wakefield was just the 23rd pitcher in major league history to make 500 appearances and 350 starts with the same team. The only other active pitchers to accomplish that are Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, both with the Braves.
Pedroia leads the majors in runs (110) and hits (192) and is 2nd with 45 doubles (Brian Roberts-47) and 56 multi-hit games (Jose Reyes-57).
Sox on streaks:
Dustin Pedroia saw his 9-game hitting streak come to an end
Coco Crisp has a 8-game hitting streak
Alex Cora saw his 6-game hitting streak come to an end
Jeff Bailey has a 6-game hitting streak.
Kevin Cash saw his 3-game hitting streak come to an end
Sean Casey has a 3-game hitting streak
Mike Lowell has a 3-game hitting streak
