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Wakefield outduels Johnson as Red Sox top Diamondbacks

Jun 26, 2008 - 3:43 AM By Brian Devine PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) - Tim Wakefield pitched seven strong innings and Kevin Cash hit a three-run homer to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 5-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

Rookie Brandon Moss plated two runs on a groundout and a sacrifice fly for the Red Sox, who captured the last two games of the interleague series and lifted their home record to an American League-best 31-10.

Wakefield (5-5), who has allowed three earned runs or less in 13 of his 16 starts this season, made the most of his first career start against Arizona.

"I've had runs like this before, I just want to keep it going" Wakefield said. "I've felt really comfortable the last six starts, ever since the start in Seattle (on May 28 when his run of six straight quality outings), (pitching coach) John (Farrell) and I worked on my mechanics and figured something out and it seems to be working so I'm not going to change anything."

Wakefield retired 21 of the 24 batters he faced, allowing just a single in the third frame to Miguel Montero and a double to Orlando Hudson in the seventh while walking one. The knuckleballer fanned six batters, two short of his season-high.

"You look up in the 7th inning and you usually have a chance to win the game," Boston manager Terry Francona said of Wakefield. "He has a knack of doing that and he's done it for a long time, hopefully it'll continue."

Cash belted a three-run home run, his first longball of the year and first since 2005, over the left field wall in the eighth inning to provide Boston with a 5-0 lead.

"He was throwing hard, threw me some fastballs inside. For whatever reason you go up there sometimes and you see the ball really well," cash said. "I saw the ball well off him and he threw a slider that caught too much of the plate."

In the second inning, the Red Sox had the makings of a big inning after Mike Lowell led off with a single and Coco Crisp doubled off the center field wall. However, Randy Johnson (4-6) held Boston to just one run on Moss' groundout.

Johnson, who now has lost five straight decisions for the first time since 1999, ran into some trouble in the sixth inning thanks to the combination of Lowell and Crisp, who again set the tables with a single and double, respectively.

"There is nothing that I haven't gone through in this game," Johnson said. "I'd like for it to end pretty soon, we are getting pretty close to that kind of territory. All the games that I have pitched the last month have been kind of a giant kind of blur.

"I'm happy that I am out of this month, I don't believe I have anymore starts this month so I am looking forward to getting into a new month and hopefully having my luck change a little bit."

After Cash was intentionally walked, Moss again plated Lowell - this time with a sacrifice fly.

"I knew he was going to stick to his slider because it was bases loaded and one out and he needed some weak contact for a ground ball or a strikeout, so I was just trying to get one up in the zone and get one in the air, because I know if I hit it on the ground right there, I'm not that fast guy, so it is probably going to be a double play", Moss said.

Despite the loss, Johnson (4-6) pitched effectively, allowing just two runs while striking out five over six innings.

"They got his pitch count up there, but for me, I thought the third or fourth inning on he got better, his velocity picked up, he looked like he was looser for some reason", Arizona manager Bob Melvin said of Johnson.

After tossing seven innings of two-hit ball, Wakefield turned it over to Boston's bullpen, which has allowed just three runs over the last 19 2/3 innings after a pair of scoreless frames Wednesday. Manny Delcarmen pitched a scoreless eighth and Craig Hansen loaded the bases in the ninth before Jonathan Papelbon came on to strike out Chad Tracy and record his 23rd save.

It was just the second time this season that Arizona has been shut out.

Dustin Pedroia, who has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, collected three hits in the win.