BLUE JAYS GO HUNGRY ON KNUCKLE SANDWICHES
BOSTON 3 TORONTO 1
BOSTON • Shea Hillenbrand has seen Tim Wakefield from both sides now. He much prefers the side he used to know.
Hillenbrand played behind Wakefield as a member of the Red Sox for three years. Yesterday the two faced off as opponents for the first time.
The 39- year- old knuckleballer baffled Hillenbrand and the rest of the Blue Jays for seven innings during Boston’s crucial 3- 1 victory in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
The win pulled the Bosox even with the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East, pending the outcome of the second game and New York’s match in Baltimore last night.
“ I’ve played behind him and seen him have performances like that,” Hillenbrand said of Wakefield.
“ It was a real eye- opener. In my three at- bats, he threw me one pitch that was hittable. It was a tough day for me.”
Hillenbrand struck out twice in his three at- bats against Wakefield, who yielded three hits. Staked to a 2- 0 lead in the first inning, Wakefield ( 16-11) breezed through the Jays’ lineup three times before relievers Jonathan Papelbon and Mike Timlin finished up.
Toronto scored an unearned run in the fifth on a passed ball. Left- fielder Manny Ramirez misplayed Frank Menechino’s single to set up the score.
In the bottom of the inning, Boston came back with an addon run against Jays’ starter Dave Bush on consecutive doubles by Edgar Renteria and David Ortiz.
On a day fraught with peril for their brittle bullpen, the Red Sox needed Wakefield to work deep into the game. On Saturday against the Yankees, he will pitch on three days’ rest for the first time this season.
“ I think under ordinary circumstances, we could have sent him back out there [ in the eighth] and he would have been fine,” Bosox manager Terry Francona said. “ I don’t think these are ordinary circumstances.”
Wakefield is wrapping up what may be his most consistent season. He is 12- 5 in his past 17 decisions and 2- 1 with a 1.99 ERA in five September starts.
“ Sometimes you don’t give him the credit he deserves just because he throws a knuckleball 68 miles an hour,” Hillenbrand said. “ To be able to master that, and to have the competitiveness and drive he has, is a great boost for that ballclub. He went out there and shoved it up our butts.”
Boston’s powerful lineup managed just six hits, all against Bush over six innings. But that meagre output was plenty for Wakefield, who held Toronto hitless until Menechino singled in the fifth.
Toronto put runners at the corners in the eighth, but Papelbon induced Vernon Wells to foul out and fanned Hillenbrand. Wells and Hillenbrand were a combined 0-for- 7.
Bush (5- 11) was solid after allowing three hits in the first. Dustin McGowan retired the final six Red Sox in order.
The Jays fell to four games below .500 for the first time this season. They have five games left.