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Wakefield, Mirabelli combine to lead Red Sox

Apr 14, 2007 - 4:36 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Boston Red Sox battery combined to take down the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Tim Wakefield pitched seven solid innings and Doug Mirabelli drove in two critical runs as the Boston Red Sox posted a 10-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

David Ortiz drove in three runs for the Red Sox, who had 14 hits after being one-hit by Seattle's Felix Hernandez on Wednesday.

Wakefield (1-1) yielded four hits and a run in seven innings. He walked two and struck out three with his dazzling knuckleball.

"Tim Wakefield has been part of a championship staff for a long time in his career in a number of places," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He does a terrific job as a starter and he had his stuff going tonight when some things were working against him. He didn't have it early on, he was feeling for his knuckle ball a little bit."

Mirabelli hit his first home run of the season in the fifth off Angels starter John Lackey to tie the game at 1-1.

"I've been working hard and I'm just happy I could contribute," Mirabelli said. "I've been working at going the other way and tonight it just paid off."

"Anytime you get production like that from your back-up catcher, a guy who is maybe playing once or twice a week, it probably goes further than the numbers," added Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

Lackey left a fastball over the outside corner and Mirabelli went to the opposite field. Mike Timlin caught the homer in the Red Sox bullpen.

"In that lineup, he's definitely a guy I can't let beat me," Lackey said. "I did a good job against the middle of the lineup. On the homer, I just wasn't going to walk him."

After Ortiz provided Boston a 2-1 lead with an RBI single in the fifth, Mirabelli's base hit in the sixth provided a two-run cushion.

"I'm ecstatic (for Mirabelli)," Wakefield said. "He has been working really hard on his hitting and you know his hard work paid off tonight for him. He hit the homer to tie the game and another hit for us to go ahead and an (insurance) RBI."

The Red Sox tacked on another run on a sacrifice fly by Mike Lowell in the seventh for a 4-1 lead, but the Angels mounted a rally in the eighth, placing runners on the corners with one out.

Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon replaced Brendan Donnelly and struck out Vladimir Guerrero on a 97 miles-per-hour fastball before getting Garret Anderson on a lineout to left field.

"The way I look at it, I went out there and did my job," Papelbon said. "I went out there and got the outs I was supposed to get. With our lineup, that's possibly going to happen again. I went out there and got my job done and I have no problems with that."

"In the eighth, we got Pap facing Vladimir and that game was anything but over at that point," Francona said. "So the offense we got early, especially the way that Lackey was throwing the ball was huge for us."

After Ortiz plated two runs during a six-run eighth inning, Timlin pitched the ninth for Boston.

Lackey (2-1) was tagged for three runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.