• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Mirabelli, Wakefield lead Red Sox over Orioles

Aug 2, 2007 - 9:42 PM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Doug Mirabelli had three hits and Tim Wakefield pitched seven solid innings on his 41st birthday as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 7-4, on Thursday.

It was Mirabelli's first three-hit game since August 25, 2004 against the Toronto Blue Jays, and helped the Red Sox take two of three games in the series.

Wakefield (13-9) allowed three runs on six hits and a walk, striking out five to earn the sixth win over his past seven starts and his 150th as a member of the Red Sox.

"I don't feel 41," Wakefield said of his birthday. "I feel like I'm in my 30s. Our training staff has done a great job of maintaining workouts and staying healthy."

Only Roger Clemens and Cy Young, each with 192 victories, have won more in a Red Sox uniform.

Hideki Okajima pitched a scoreless eighth, and newly acquired Eric Gagne made his first appearance for Boston by allowing a run in the ninth. Gagne, who was traded to the Red Sox from the Texas Rangers prior to Tuesday's trading deadline, allowed a double to Aubrey Huff and a single by Jay Payton before getting Jay Gibbons to fly out to end the game.

"It was very fortunate that the offense scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning," Wakefield said. "That gave us a cushion for (Okajima) and Gagne."

Mirabelli gave Boston the lead for good in the seventh inning with an RBI single up the middle, scoring Coco Crisp to make it 4-3.

The Red Sox tacked on three more runs off Oriole reliever Rob Bell (3-2) to blow the game open. Alex Cora singled to score pinch runner J.D. Drew and rookie Dustin Pedroia doubled home Mirabelli and Cora to account for Boston's final runs.

"There's no quit in us," Pedroia said. "We had some good at-bats there in a row. Cora's at-bat there was huge. Everyone was putting the bats together at the right time. So it was a big win for us."

Bell allowed four runs on four hits and a walk in 2/3 of an inning.

"That's just part of the game," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "We didn't get three outs. You don't single out any one guy. We didn't get three outs in that inning. After you score, you've got to go out there and put zeros (up) and we didn't do that."

Mirabelli, Wakefield's personal catcher, also singled in the sixth and hit his fourth homer of the season in the fourth inning. His blast followed the shot by Eric Hinske, who belted his fifth home run to put the Red Sox ahead 3-0.

But it was a Mirabelli base-running blunder that nearly cost the Red Sox in the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out, David Ortiz lifted a fly to deep right. Nick Markakis caught the ball and threw to Miguel Tejada, the cut-off man. But Mirabelli was late getting back to the bag to tag and was thrown out easily by Tejada on the relay throw.

"It was more relieving than anything," Mirabelli said of his go-ahead single in the seventh. "You just felt like you had to come through in that situation. If you don't, you feel like you really (missed) a chance and let the team down. To come back and put them ahead feels good but it's more of a relief."

Mirabelli posted multiple hits in a game for the fifth time this season.

"I hadn't done it in a long time, I knew that," Mirabelli said of his first three-hit game in nearly three years. "It was one of those days where you felt good at the plate and got some hits."

Baltimore rallied to tie the score off Wakefield in the fifth. Huff led off the frame with a triple to right field off the knuckleballer, and Payton hit a sacrifice fly to score the Orioles' first run.

After an out, Paul Bako singled and Brian Roberts doubled. Both scored on Corey Patterson's single to center field, knotting the score at 3-3.

Jeremy Guthrie started for Baltimore and pitched 5 1/3 innings. The righthander allowed three runs on nine hits, walking four and striking out three. Guthrie entered the contest having won his last three starts.

"He didn't give in," Trembley said of Guthrie. "I thought the strike zone was tight in the first couple of innings. The walks hurt him and obviously, the back-to-back home runs, that's part of the game."

The Red Sox opened the scoring off Guthrie in the third inning when David Ortiz doubled and Manny Ramirez singled him home.

The loss was just Baltimore's third in its last 10 games.