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Wakefield helps Red Sox roll past White Sox again

Aug 26, 2007 - 12:18 AM By Brian Salgado PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Tim Wakefield pitched seven scoreless innings and the Boston Red Sox's bats stayed hot as they rolled to a 14-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.

Boston has outscored Chicago, 35-6, over the first three games of their four-game series and has won all six meetings between the clubs this year.

Wakefield (16-10) had the White Sox flailing helplessly for most of the game, yielding just three hits en route to matching teammate Josh Beckett for the major league lead in wins. The 41-year-old knuckleballer has won nine of his last 11 outings.

"He can get hot," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "He feels good about himself, and he takes care of himself. He's very confident, as he should be right now."

Wakefield's dominance included a string of five hitless innings beginning with the second before Jermaine Dye's one-out double in the seventh.

"I just kept trying to tell myself it was 1-0 because that isn't a team to go to sleep on," Wakefield said. "I just tried to get us back in the dugout as soon as possible."

Chicago starter Mark Buehrle and Wakefield traded scoreless frames until the top of the sixth. After a leadoff single by Dustin Pedroia and one-out double by David Ortiz, the White Sox elected to intentionally walk Manny Ramirez, loading the bases.

Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and Bobby Kielty followed with singles, with Kielty's bringing home two runs with the help of Chicago left fielder Andy Gonzalez. Lowell scored on the play when Gonzalez inexplicably held the ball instead of immediately throwing it back into the infield, giving the Red Sox a 4-0 lead.

"It is something you talk a lot about in spring training," Francona said. "Good baserunners always know where the ball is."

Buehrle (9-9) lasted six innings, allowing four runs, six hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

"Wakefield was good, Buehrle was every bit as good," Francona said. "We were able to push some runs across. We were able to spread it out and take it easy on our bullpen."

The Red Sox tacked on a run in the seventh, when Ramirez scored on a two-out double by Youkilis off White Sox reliever Ehren Wasserman.

Boston erupted for eight runs in the eighth, which saw 14 hitters come to the plate as Chicago's bullpen struggled.

After Ryan Bukvich started the inning by hitting the first two batters, Pedroia delivered an RBI double. A walk later, Ortiz hit a two-run single for an 8-0 bulge.

Coco Crisp scored on righthander Mike MacDougal's second wild pitch of the frame, and Lowell's third hit of the day - a single to left - drove in Ortiz to make it 10-0.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is not concerned with his team quitting on him for the remainder of the lost season. But he doesn't want to see them give up on themselves, either.

"They play as hard as they can every day for me," Guillen said. "They go by my rules the way they should, but I don't want to see those guys with their head down quitting on themselves and feeling sorry for themselves."

Kielty just missed a home run that bounced off the top of the center field wall, just out of reach of a leaping Jerry Owens for an RBI double. Pedroia and Crisp drew bases-loaded walks later in the inning to cap the rally, giving Boston a commanding 13-0 cushion.

"When you're scoring those types of runs, it is definitely a fun situation to be in," Kielty said.

Lowell finished with four hits and is 9-for-14 in the series thus far.

Chicago pitchers combined to issue 10 walks.

The Red Sox tacked on another run in the ninth on an RBI single by Kielty, who finished with three hits.

Paul Konerko got the White Sox on the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run homer - his 26th of the season - off reliever Kyle Snyder.