Old Man Tim Wakefield just keeps rolling along, and his butterfly pitch has come right along with him.
The 42-year-old knuckleball pitcher threw seven innings of five-hit, one-run ball in a rain-shortened afternoon game during Wednesday's day/night doubleheader, and it marked the second consecutive start in which Wakefield has gone the distance. Wednesday's effort was the 32nd complete game of Wakefield's career, and he has now had back-to-back complete games six times. He became the oldest pitcher in Red Sox history to pitch a complete game -- breaking the record he set in his previous start, when he rescued a beleaguered bullpen by taking a no-hitter into the eighth against Oakland. Wakefield is also the oldest pitcher to throw back-to-back complete games since fellow knuckleballer Charlie Hough, then 44, turned the trick back in 1992 while pitching for the Chicago White Sox.
Wakefield also tossed a seven-inning complete game against the Indians back in 1998 -- a veritable lifetime ago for the longest-tenured Sox player.
What was Wakefield's secret to locking down a pair of complete-game efforts at his advanced baseball age?
"Kind of fell into that one by accident," Wakefield said with a certain amount of modesty. "I'll take it."
RED SOX 10, TWINS 1 (7 innings); RED SOX 7, TWINS 3: The Red Sox made it seven wins in a row by taking both ends of a day/night doubleheader Wednesday with a healthy dose of rain sprinkled in between at Fenway Park. RHP Tim Wakefield threw a five-hitter for his 32nd big-league complete in the rain-shortened opening game. 1B Jeff Bailey blasted a three-run homer in his first big-league at-bat this season during the nightcap victory.
