Wakefied sharp as Sox rock Diamondbacks

MLB. In a battle of seasoned hurlers, 41-year-old whippersnapper Tim Wakefield clearly got the best of 44-year-old Randy Johnson.

Wakefield befuddled an inexperienced Diamondbacks lineup with seven innings of shutout ball en route to a 5-0 whitewashing of Arizona at the Fens last night.

It marked the team-leading 11th quality start of the season for the knuckleballer and evened his record at 5-5.

Always a bit of a streaky pitcher, Wakefield is riding a fluttering groove over his last six starts and has worked at least seven full innings in each of those appearances. Over the favorable stretch that began on May 28, Wakefield is 2-2 with a 2.09 ERA and has teamed with Jon Lester as the dual stalwarts in Boston’s rotation.

Runs weren’t exactly a hot commodity for either dugout, however, as the Sox only managed a pair of scores against the Old Unit. That’s been the case for the scratching and clawing Sox throughout June while fighting without the fallen David Ortiz, but Papi’s teammates have soldiered on impressively and produced a 15-8 record in his absence.

Sox third baseman Mike Lowell scored both runs for the Sox in victory, and led off each scoring rally with a single. Coco Crisp followed each Lowell single with a ringing doubles that advanced Lowell to third base, and rookie right fielder Brandon Moss managed to knock both runs in.
The first came via an impressive at-bat that scored the run with a grounder to second base, and the second tally was a sacrifice fly that again got the job done.

After Wakefield was done mesmerizing the D-Backs, Manny Delcarmen brought the heat in the form of 99 mph fastballs. The righty set-up man tossed a perfect eighth inning and extended his scoreless streak to 12 2/3 innings over his last 11 appearances.

Kevin Cash added some insurance power when he stroked a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to ice the victory.