Indians stymied by Wakefield in loss
6/8/2010CLEVELAND — Tim Wakefield bounced back from two rough outings and became Boston's all-time leader in innings pitched, leading the Red Sox past the Cleveland Indians 3-2 Tuesday night.
Wakefield (2-4) gave up four hits and one earned run over 71/3 innings to push his career innings pitched to 2,777, one more than Roger Clemens worked in a Red Sox uniform.
The 43-year-old left after yielding a pinch-double to Travis Hafner, who had been 0 for 10 against the knuckleballer.
Hideki Okajima and Ramon Ramirez each got one out, stranding pinch-runner Anderson Hernandez at third base to end the eighth. Daniel Bard worked the ninth for his second save in five chances.
Wakefield struck out six without a walk, continuing the Red Sox rotation's remarkable road run. Their starters are 9-0 with a 0.75 ERA in the last 10 games away from Fenway Park.
The right-hander was 0-2 with a 13.97 ERA in his previous two starts but retired 15 in a row at one point and improved to 12-8 in his career against Cleveland.
Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the first. Shin-Soo Choo tripled with one out and scored when Jhonny Peralta's two-out grounder handcuffed third baseman Adrian Beltre for an error.
Boston got three unearned runs in the fourth off David Huff (2-7) after Victor Martinez reached when his two-out flyball was dropped by Trevor Crowe on the warning track in center for a two-base error.
Kevin Youkilis followed with a double off the scoreboard in left, scoring Martinez. Red Sox manager Terry Francona argued it was a home run and the umpires used instant replay, which showed the ball falling short by several feet.
David Ortiz drove home Youkilis with a single off the glove of second baseman Luis Valbuena. After Beltre singled, Bill Hall doubled in Ortiz for a 3-1 lead.
Shelley Duncan's home run off the left-field foul pole with two outs in the seventh pulled Cleveland to 3-2.