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Boston's Wakefield goes for win No. 200 in Toronto

Sep 7, 2011 - 3:01 PM (Sports Network) - Tim Wakefield takes another crack at career win No. 200 this evening when the Boston Red Sox continue a four-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Wakefield has been stuck on 199 wins since beating Seattle back on July 24 and had his last start skipped in favor of Andrew Miller. Wakefield actually threw four scoreless innings of relief in that one, but is 0-3 with a 4.50 ERA in seven starts since beating the Mariners.

On the year Wakefield is 6-6 with a 4.95 ERA.

This will be his fifth straight start against a team with a losing record.

The 45-year-old knuckleballer beat the Blue Jays the last time he faced them and is 18-14 lifetime against them with a 3.87 ERA in 57 games, 43 of which have been starts.

Wakefield can only hope for the same type of offensive support the Red Sox provided on Tuesday, as Marco Scutaro finished 4-for-5 with three doubles and four RBI, and Jon Lester tossed seven scoreless innings in a 14-0 rout.

David Ortiz collected four hits and knocked in two, Adrian Gonzalez posted three hits and drove in two runs, while Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a two-run homer for the Red Sox, who recovered from a 1-0 loss in 11 innings in Monday's series opener and won for the second time in their last six games. Boston had 20 hits, including nine doubles.

Lester (15-6) posted his fourth straight positive decision, tying a season- high of 11 strikeouts while allowing just three hits and one walk.

The wild card-leading Red Sox remained 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East.

"We kept at them, spread it out and Lester threw a bunch of strikes," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

Luis Perez (3-3) was tagged for 10 hits and eight runs over 2 2/3 innings for the Blue Jays, who have dropped four of five.

Heading to the hill for the Blue Jays this evening will be hard-throwing right-hander Brandon Morrow, who is 9-10 with a 4.78 ERA. Morrow lost for the fifth time in six starts on Friday to the Yankees, as he allowed three runs and four hits in six innings. He also struck out is eight.

Toronto has managed just nine runs for Morrow over his last six starts, including three outings in which they gave him no support.

Morrow beat the Red Sox the last time he faced them and is 1-2 in 13 games (five starts) against them with an 8.70 ERA.

The Red Sox have beaten the Jays in nine of 14 matchups this season.