Jazzy performance by Wakefield

CHICAGO -- It was one of those light-hearted moments you see in a dugout on a night things are going well. So there David Ortiz was, enjoying his night off by wiping down a perspiring Tim Wakefield with a towel in the top of the sixth inning.
Wakefield had trucked all the way around from first on a triple by Johnny Damon, capping off the 270-foot sprint with a textbook slide. He was clearly worthy of gaining a little relief from Ortiz. Especially considering what a strong and seemingly effortless performance he turned in from the mound, leading the Red Sox to a 8-1 victory, salvaging the final game of this three-game series with the Cubs.

The veteran knuckleballer was at his best in this one, allowing four hits and one run over seven innings while not issuing a walk. It was easily Wakefield's best start in weeks, as he snapped out of a fairly prolonged funk (2-5, 6.97 ERA in previous seven starts).

"I made a little bit of an adjustment in my mechanics," said Wakefield. "I felt like I pitched pretty good in St. Louis, the breaks just didn't go my way. Tonight, I was able to get them to hit groundballs at guys. I can't get out of my gameplan, I can't try harder. I'm trying as hard as I can as it is. You just try to give good quality innings one at a time, and we were able to score some runs tonight."

Wakefield's resurgence would have been big on any night. But with the Sox entering this one with four losses in their last five games, it was that much more crucial.

"He pitched great, he contributed with his bat, on the bases," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "He was outstanding. And we needed it."

The Sox also got strong performances at the plate from Damon (single short of the cycle) and Kevin Youkilis (3-for-5, triple shy of cycle).

Youkilis, inserted into the three-hole on a night Ortiz got well-deserved rest, belted a solo shot into the basket above the ivy in left-center to make it 1-0 in the first. For Youkilis, it was his first homer of the season and yet another demonstration of how he seems to contribute every time he's in the lineup.

"I felt really good up there," said Youkilis, who raised his average to .327. "I felt like I had good at-bats. It's tough not playing every day, but I just try to capitalize when I do."

Of course, Damon is in there every night, and when he's at his best, it seems to ignite the entire offense.

Damon belted a solo homer to right with one out in the fifth. It was the first longball in 150 at-bats for Damon, and just his second of the year. When he crossed home, it marked the 1,000th run of his career. Damon is the 30th active player to score that many runs.

"It's very special," said Damon. "That's the first step of a milestone for me. Hopefully, I can get to 1,500 in the next four years or so."

The speedy leadoff man was in the middle of more damage for the Sox in the sixth, belting a two-run triple to left-center.

Johnny Damon / CF
Born: 11/05/73
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 190 lbs
Bats: L / Throws: L

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If not for Wakefield -- who singled in his first at-bat -- avoiding an inning-ending double play by his all-out hustle to first, Damon would have never had that opportunity. But after Damon's shot to the wall, Wakefield went on his tour de force, reminding everyone that he was once a first baseman in the Minor Leagues.

Still, Wakefield's legs and lungs reminded him that the last time he was a position player was 16 years ago.

"I just hoped I had enough gas in the tank to get [home]," said Wakefield. "When you don't do it -- we play in the American League, we never have to run the bases -- when you have to do that, it's not easy."

But on the mound, that's exactly what it was. He carved the Cubs up, preventing the hosts from putting more than one runner on base in any of his seven innings.

Doug Mirabelli, who returned from the disabled list to catch Wakefield for the first time since May 15, was impressed.

"I was telling him after the game, he really threw only two bad knuckleballs, and that was in his last inning," said Mirabelli.

As the Sox extended their lead, the main drama left in the late innings surrounded Damon, and whether he'd be able to rake the single that would allow him to become the first Sox player to hit for the cycle since John Valentin did it June 6, 1996.

But he walked on four pitches in the eighth and flew out to right on the first pitch he saw in the ninth.

"After the at-bat before, there were four pitches that weren't anywhere close, I was going up and just trying to hit anything that was close to the plate," said Damon. "He threw me a high fastball and I went after it. I'm just glad I got the opportunity. There's going to be plenty more opportunities. It gives me something to shoot for."

The offense looked increasingly comfortable as the night wore on. Manny Ramirez snapped an unusually long home run drought by his standards (69 at-bats) when he tattoed a towering blast over everything in left-center and on to Waveland Avenue in the seventh.

But the most important storyline for the Sox centered around Wakefield, who tamed the Cubs on a night his team desperately needed it.

"It's very gratifying," said Wakefield. "We lose the first two in St. Louis and we come here, and things went the same way. It's huge to get a win going home and maybe it will build some momentum for us at home. "

The late-night plane ride back to Boston figured to be a lot more enjoyable, thanks to Wakefield's mastery.

Source: http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/