There was plenty of buzz around Fenway Park on Sunday afternoon especially with Daniel Nava’s historic grand slam on Saturday. And to top it off, the Boston Red Sox were looking for a three-game sweep of the struggling Philadelphia Phillies.
But the Red Sox ran into Cole Hamels who’s had good success against them in his career and earlier this season. Hamels was strong for seven innings as he used his nasty cutter to keep the Red Sox hitters at bay. The only run they were able to get off of Hamels came off the bat of Adrian Beltre, who belted a solo shot into the Green Monster.
This season has been a strange one for Tim Wakefield. He started in the rotation, then was sent to the bullpen, but injuries to Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka have him back in the rotation. For the most part when he’s in the rotation he’s pitched well but when it goes bad for him, it’s usually just one bad inning that does him in.
And that’s exactly what happened to Wake on Sunday afternoon.
Although he allowed the Phillies to load the bases in the 1st inning with no outs, he was able to work himself out of that jam. His problem inning though was the 4th inning when the Phillies broke open the game with four runs.
After striking out Chase Utley, he gave up a double to Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth followed an RBI single. A few moments later, Werth was crossing home plate on a home run off the bat of Raul Ibanez. Another double, this time by Ben Francisco, and an RBI single by Juan Castro followed as the scoreboard now read Phillies 4 Red Sox 1.
The Red Sox rallied for two runs in the 9th but it wasn’t enough as Brad Lidge was able to close it.
And oh by the way, Wakefield joined another exclusive club on Sunday afternoon. With his 7 1/3 innings, he moved past 3,000 innings pitched in his career, making him just the third active pitcher to do it. Jaime Moyer of the Phillies and Andy Pettitte of the New York Yankees are the others.
The Red Sox are off today and return to action tomorrow night when the Arizona Diamondbacks come to the Fens for a three-game set. Clay Buchholz will toe the rubber for the Red Sox and he’ll be opposed by Ian Kennedy.
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy papers, head over to the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer websites.
