Wakefield Drags Tiger's Skid to 5 Games

Tim Wakefield has been reasonably solid all year, now posting a 3-1 record, but last night's 8 IP, 2 hits, 0 R, 0 walk performance was his first really dominant performance of the year. Wakefield has brought the struggling Tigers to their fifth consecutive loss by holding the Tigers to a mere two hits over 8 innings of work, before Mike Timlin ate a scoreless 9th inning to possibly build some confidence with a healthy five-run lead.

The Red Sox bats continue to produce. The Sox tagged Tigers starter Nate Robertson for 3 runs in the second inning by stringing together a walk from Mike Lowell, a double from Kevin Youkilis, a single from JD Drew, a double from Kevin Cash and a sacrifice from Coco Crisp. Robertson would allow base runners in all 7 innings that he pitched in and hits in all but the first inning. Finally, Robertson was chased from the game after a David Ortiz homerun. This would bring in Tigers reliever Freddy Dolsi for his first appearance in the majors, he picked a hell of a batter to start out on and Manny Ramirez would go deep to make it back to back homeruns. Manny had an impressive night at 3/5 at the plate, this homerun puts him to 497 career homeruns. Ortiz's homerun gives him two in the last two games. In the last 5 games with a plate appearance Ortiz has steadily dragged his batting average from .172 up to .225, hopefully this is a sign that David truly has broken out of this early season slump. Kevin Cash was also a pleasant surprise with a 3/4 performance. Cash has been solid all year long and now owns an impressive .361 batting average. It's nice to know we have options in the event that Jason Varitek is injured or hits a prolonged slump.

Clay Bucholz (2-2, 3.71 ERA) will take the mound tonight against Armando Galarraga (2-1, 1.88 ERA)

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook