After the city of Boston celebrated the Boston Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup Championship run on Saturday, the Boston Red Sox couldn’t pull out a win over the Milwaukee Brewers that night. But on Sunday afternoon with the Bruins and the Stanley Cup in the house, it was a totally different story.
The Red Sox used that energy to put up six runs in the 1st inning while riding the knuckleball of Tim Wakefield to pick up a relatively easy 12-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. By the way, this is a Brewers team who is in first place in the NL Central.
There’s not much you can say about Wakefield that already hasn’t been said. The man just goes out there and simply put, does his job like he’s asked.
He’s been absolutely outstanding filling in for Daisuke Matsuzaka in the Red Sox rotation. He’s definitely not making it easy on Terry Francona and the Red Sox brass from pulling him out of the rotation. With Clay Buchholz now on the disabled list and Andrew Miller up from Pawtucket, Wake will stay in the rotation for the time being.
After that, it’s anyone’s guess. But if he continues to do what he’s been doing, he could find himself there for the long haul. On Sunday, all he did was go eight innings, allowing three runs on three hits and one walk while striking out six to pick up his fourth win of 2011. He’s now just three wins shy of 200 in his career and nine short of Cy Young and Roger Clemens Red Sox record of 192 wins.
The offense made sure Wake would have an easy time on Sunday afternoon when they scored four of the six runs in the 1st without recording an out. Given the fact the local nine was facing the Brewers ace in Yovani Gallardo, you didn’t think it would be so easy. But thankfully it was.
Jacoby Ellsbury started things off with a single and went to second on a Dustin Pedroia single. Both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch and then Ellsbury came into score when Adrian Gonzalez reached on error by Gallardo. Kevin Youkilis would clear the bases with a three-run homer and after four batters, the Red Sox held a 4-0 lead.
It didn’t stop there though.
David Ortiz reached on an infield single followed by a J.D. Drew single with Big Papi stopping at second. Marco Scutaro moved the runners up a base when he made the first out of the inning on a groundout to first base. Gallardo struck out Jarrod Salatlamacchia but then walked Josh Reddick to load the bases. Up for the second time in the inning, Ellsbury picked up his second hit, a ground-rule double, that scored two more and made it 6-0.
The Red Sox would add two more in the 4th on a Pedroia solo home run and Ortiz fielder’s choice RBI. Pedroia added a sac fly in the 5th and Scutaro a two-run shot in the 6th. A Gonzalez RBI single in the 7th finished off the scoring.
With Buchholz now out as well as Carl Crawford and Jed Lowrie, the Red Sox will have to piece things together. But as we’ve seen time and time again, the players filling in usually step up. We really can’t call Scutaro a fill-in player as he had the starting job before Lowrie got hot. But since returning from the DL, Scutaro has been hitting the ball well and deserves to be in the lineup.
If the combination of Darnell McDonald, Drew Sutton, Reddick and Mike Cameron can do the job of filling in for Crawford things will be just fine for the Red Sox going forward. I’m not worried about the pitching one bit as we’ve seen the jobs that Wake and Alfredo Aceves have done. Plus with all of this offense lately plus great starting pitching, the bullpen has been getting some much needed rest and should be fresh going forward.
The Red Sox will now welcome the former team of their first baseman in the San Diego Padres to town. It will also mark the Fenway Park debut of former Red Sox prospect Anthony Rizzo who was one of the players traded to the Padres for Gonzalez.
We’ll be back later with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. But for now, enjoy the overnight links by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
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Offense is at full blast as Red Sox rout Brewers [Boston Globe]
Fast to forget about milestone [Boston Globe]
Buchholz latest to land on DL [Boston Globe]
Trophy sample for Sox [Boston Herald]
Back to future [Boston Herald]
Adrian Gonzalez legs out 1,000th career hit [Boston Herald]
Trading places: Buchholz out, Miller in [Clubhouse Insider]
Fenway celebrates Bruins’ Cup victory [CSNNE.com]
Sox shell Gallardo in 12-3 win over Brewers [CSNNE.com]
Wakefield comfortable, shining in starting role [CSNNE.com]
Gonzalez makes his 1,000th hit a memorable one [CSNNE.com]
Miller: A tall pitcher with high hopes [CSNNE.com]
Notes: Red Sox get team effort offensively [CSNNE.com]
Rapid reaction: Red Sox 12, Brewers 3 [ESPN Boston]
Plodding Gonzalez triples for 1,000th hit [ESPN Boston]
Tim Wakefield makes more memories with victory [ESPN Boston]
Bradley returns for Gamecocks in CWS [Extra Bases]
Video: Vega’s analysis of Red Sox-Brewers series finale [Extra Bases]
Red Sox and Padres connections run deep [Extra Bases]
Closing Time: Red Sox 12, Brewers 3 [Full Count]
Adrian Gonzalez proves a point to Terry Francona and Jacoby Ellsbury [Full Count]
Video: Kevin Youkilis Says Boston Sports Is Like Fraternity of Athletes [NESN.com]
Video: Tim Wakefield Enjoying Routine, Repetition of Being in Rotation [NESN.com]
Video: Clay Buchholz Hopes Rest While on Disabled List Will Enable Him to Fully Recover from Lingering Back Issues [NESN.com]
Bruins Tribute, Six-Run First Make for Wild Times at Fenway Park [NESN.com]
Tim Wakefield, ‘Young’ for a Knuckleballer, Getting Better With Age As He Approaches Sox’ All-Time Win Record [NESN.com]
Rich Hill among Red Sox to enjoy Bruins’ ceremony [Projo Sox Blog]
Wakefield, Sox bats and foghorn blast Brewers [Providence Journal]
After fast start in ’06, then falling back to minors, Sox hope Miller’s time is now [Providence Journal]
Red Sox Journal: Buchholz heads to DL; Miller debuts Monday [Providence Journal]
Even Adrian Gonzalez’s speed (or lack thereof) can’t slow him down [Rob Bradford – WEEI.com]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSNNE, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Capitol Times, Green Bay Press Gazette and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel websites. You can also visit our Bloguin brother The Brewers Bar.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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