Tim Wakefield’s knuckler danced the way he wanted it to against the Cubs on Sunday, leading the Red Sox to an 8-1 win to avoid a sweep in the finale of the teams’ first meeting since the 1918 World Series.
Wakefield gave up one run on four hits in seven innings, snapping a personal five-game losing streak, while Johnny Damon homered and drove in three runs in Boston’s 17-hit attack.
Wakefield entered Sunday’s start with a 5.13 earned-run average, including a 6.94 ERA in his previous eight starts. But he managed to stifle the Cubs without breaking much of a sweat, handing Glendon Rusch his second loss in seven decisions.
“If we continue to play the way we’re playing and win series and keep going with what we’re doing, we’ll be right where we need to be at the end of the season,” Rusch said.
“Regardless of whether it’s catching the (St. Louis) Cardinals or being in contention to win the wild card. However you get in, getting in is all that matters.”
Wakefield departed after seven innings, throwing only 86 pitches, 60 for strikes.
Wakefield (5-2) had issued 25 walks in his previous six starts, but the free-swinging Cubs didn’t show much patience, taking no walks.
“You know he’s going to be around the plate, so you can’t take,” Todd Walker said. “You also know that if you do take, he’s going to bury you, and he’s not going to get tired, so there’s no reason to take. You go up, and if it’s high, you let it fly, and if it’s low, you let it go. There [were] a lot of high ones tonight, and we weren’t able to find any holes.”
Manager Dusty Baker sat red-hot left-fielder Todd Hollandsworth for Jason Dubois, reasoning he didn’t “want to mess up the stroke [Hollandsworth’s] got with a knuckleballer” like Wakefield.
“Plus, right-handers are hitting a whole lot more against Wakefield than left-handers,” Baker said. “It seems like his ball moves away from a left-hander more than anything and into right-handers.”
Even switch-hitter Neifi Perez opted to hit right-handed against Wakefield to offset the movement on his knuckler.
But nothing worked. Their lone run came on a seventh-inning fielder’s choice by Lee with the Cubs trailing 7-0.
