Boston Red Sox 2 Minnesota Twins 0 (May 4, 2007)
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0 commentsTwins Can't Solve Wakefield or Stop Ortiz
The Boston Red Sox (19-9, 1st in AL East) defeated the Minnesota Twins (15-14, 3rd in AL Central) by a score of 2-0 on Friday, behind a dominating performance by Tim Wakefield (W, 3-3) and one bad pitch taken advantage of by designated hitter David Ortiz. The Red Sox have won 3 straight, and the Twins have lost 3 straight.
| W: | Tim Wakefield | (3-3, 2.11) |
| L: | Carlos Silva | (2-2, 2.75) |
| S: | Jonathan Papelbon | (9, 1.59) |
Wakefield held the Minnesota offense to just three hits over 7 scoreless innings, walking three and striking out two. Minnesota center fielder Torii Hunter had two of those hits, and also stole a base on the day. J.C. Romero and Brendan Donnelly combined for a scoreless 8th, and Jonathan Papelbon (S, 9), shook off his only blown save of the season so far Tuesday against Oakland and pitched a perfect 9th for his ninth save, two off the major league lead.
Carlos Silva (L, 2-2) pitched extremely well, allowing only 5 hits, walking two and striking out one. Unfortunately for Twins fans, one of those hits was a mistake to Big Papi in the 6th and he doesn't miss many of those; he deposited it in the outfield seats for a solo home run which broke a scoreless tie. That was all the Red Sox needed, as the Twins offense could not get it going. Besides Hunter's two, only Joe Mauer and Jason Bartlett managed to get a hit off of the Boston pitching staff.
Alex Cora went 3-3 and raised his average to .406 on the year while splitting time with the offensively struggling rookie Dustin Pedroia. This is a delicate situation for manager Terry Francona, as the front office wants to see Pedroia play as much as possible, but Cora is seeing beach balls out there. Doug Mirabelli also had a hit, as he is getting off to a much better offensive start than last year when he hit under the Mendoza Line. J.D. Drew returned to the lineup after missing a few games with flu-like symptoms (something that I've always assumed was code for a hangover).
- Wakefield: 63
- Silva: 53
Notes: Minnesota reliever and resident blogger Pat Neshek pitched a perfect 8th, lowering his ERA on the year to 1.84. He is also second in the AL in WPA (Win Probability Added) at 1.12 on the year... Wakefield's WPA for the game was a gargantuan .486, almost twice as much as the next best player (Silva's .245).
Coming Up Next: Julian Tavarez (1-2, 7.58) comes off his best start of the year against the New York Yankees to face the greatest pitcher alive, Johan Santana (3-2, 3.60).
Date
May 4, 2007
