The Knuckleball Dances As The Cubs Dance Back Home (25-21)

Last night, the Red Sox beat the Cubs 5-1 in a game where the Red Sox just held control the entire ballgame. In the 4th inning, after loading the bases with no outs, sacrifice flies by Jed Lowrie and Mike Cameron made it 2-0 Red Sox. In the bottom of the 5th, a Jarrod Saltalamacchia home run way over the monster made it 3-0 Red Sox. in the top of the 7th, Starlin Castro came home from third on a two-out double by Jeff Baker. However, with runners on first and second with 2 outs, Kevin Youkilis came through in the clutch with a triple to the triangle in deep center field to make it 5-1 Red Sox.

Tim Wakefield (right) pitched fantastic, allowing 4 hits and just one earned run in 6 2/3 innings. He earned his first win of the year, and is now 1-1/4.50/14, only 6 wins from 200. Daniel Bard pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 inning and Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless inning behind him. Dustin Pedroia had a pretty good day, going 2-4 and scoring a run. However, Adrian Gonzalez had a monster day, going 4-4 with 2 runs scored, as he is now batting .342 this year. Kevin Youkilis went 1-3, scoring a run, and hitting that big 2-run triple, as he is now .281/8/32. David Ortiz went 2-4 and Jed Lowrie went 1-2 with an RBI. Jarrod Saltalamacchia (left) went 1-4 with that solo home run, he is now .237/3/12. Tonight, the Sox will head down to Cleveland and send Clay Buchholz (4-3/3.42/37) to the hill against Justin Masterson (5-2/2.52/48).

Bright Spots:

Tim Wakefield- 1 run and 4 hits in 6 2/3 innings

Daniel Bard- 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief

Jonathan Papelbon- a scoreless inning of relief

Dustin Pedroia- 2-4 with a run scored

Adrian Gonzalez- 4-4 with 2 runs scored

Kevin Youkilis -1-3 with 2 RBIs and a run

Jed Lowrie- 1-2 with an RBI sac fly

Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 1-4 with a huge home run

Dull Spots:

Carl Crawford- 0-3 with a strikeout

Well, after last night's win, here we stand, just .5 games out of first place and the end to a struggle back.