Wakefield's Knuckler, Ortiz's Bomb Leads Sox to Series Win

After Josh Beckett tied Tim Wakefield for wins last night, Wakefield was looking to pull ahead in the wins column.  And that is exactly what he did, as he was able to stymie the Oakland A's for his 11th win of the season in his first start since being named an All-star for the 1st time in his career.  Even though he surrendered 10 hits and had to wiggle out of many jams, Wakefield struck out a season high 8 batters while limiting the A's to only 3 runs, 1 earned in 6 innings of work.

Wakefield also made sure he thanked teammates David Ortiz and JD Drew.  After not being able to do much against A's start Trevor Cahill,  Drew stepped up in the 6th inning and tied the game a solo shot to right, his 12th of the year.  Following Drew was Dustin Pedroia, who beat out an infeild single, and with a walk to Kevin Youkilis, Ortiz stepped up looking to do some damage.  And he did just that, as he tattooed a 2-1 pitch deep into the night of Fenway Park.  The towering shot made it Ortiz's 10th homer of the season, and also his 299th of his career.

Entering the 7th, Wakefield gave up back to back hits to Bobby Crosby and Adam Kennedy, summoning skipper Terry Francona to the mound.  In came reliever Manny Delcarmen, as he set down Orlando Cabrera on a strikeout and Scott Hairston on a pop-up, which almost turned into a double play if shortstop Nick Green had stepped onto 2nd for the force, but he missed the bag and was charged with an error.  So instead of an inning-ending double play, Delcarmen walked Matt Holliday and gave up a bases loaded two-run single to chop the lead to 4-3. 

For the 2nd time in inning, Francona walked out to mound to retrieve his pitcher, and in came Hideki Okajma.  Jack Cust ripped a hard-hit ball towards center which looked like it would tie the game, but a spectacular diving stop by Dustin Pedroia ended any discussion of that, as the lead was held and the threat was wiped away.

After the Sox put up another run in the bottom half of the inning, Papelbon came in for the save in the 9th.  It what has been a recent trend this season for Papelbon, he had yet another shaky 9th, but was able to nail down his 22nd save of the season.

Coming to town tomorrow will be the Kansas City Royals.  Pitching for them will be the once heavily touted prospect Luke Hochevar.  He is 4-3 on the season, while sporting an era just above 5.  He is coming off a start against Oakland, in which he 6 innings while giving up 4 runs on 9 hits.  Going for the Sox will be Brad Penny.  Penny has been a pleasant surprise this year for the Sox' rotation, as he has been able to compile a 6-3 record while maintaining a respectable 4.67 era.  Also, some good news.  Shortstop Jed Lowrie was activated from the DL and was optioned to Class A Lowell.  He is trying to come back from wrist surgery that put has kept him out since April.