Thursday, August 01, 2002
Red Sox 2, Angels 1
The Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Boston Red Sox finally hung on to win a one-run game. Tim Wakefield pitched five scoreless innings and the Red Sox scored both of their runs on sacrifice flies as they beat Anaheim 2-1 Wednesday night to tie the Angels in the AL wild card race.
Boston had lost all four of its previous one-run games.
“It was nice to win one of these close ballgames,” Wakefield said. “Lately we haven't been winning a whole lot of one-run games. The bullpen did a great job.”
Ugueth Urbina pitched the ninth for his 25th save in 29 attempts. After he stumbled on the mound and was called for a balk, moving a runner to second base with two outs, he retired David Eckstein on a sharp grounder.
Wakefield (5-3) allowed five hits over five innings, struck out five and walked one for his 99th career victory. The knuckleballer improved to 3-1 as a starter this season.
“I felt pretty good,” he said. “I was just trying to get through each inning unscathed. I thought I could have gone one more inning, but I was running on empty at that point.”
Nomar Garciaparra and Brian Daubach hit sacrifice flies to account for Boston's runs as the Red Sox won the series 2-1.
Boston moved within four games of the New York Yankees in the East and improved its major league-leading road record to 35-19.
“This series was two good teams matching up with each other, and we were very, very fortunate to come out of here with two wins,” Boston manager Grady Little said. “That's an awful good club over there.”
Anaheim dropped two games behind first-place Seattle in the West, losing for the third time in its last five games.
“We played a good game. Guys just didn't have some things fall in for us,” Anaheim starter John Lackey said. “It's just one game.”
Red Sox reliever Alan Embree, who took the loss Monday night in his first appearance after coming off the disabled list, surrendered Anaheim's run when Troy Glaus homered with two outs in the eighth.
Wakefield retired the first eight batters. Jose Molina finally broke through with a single in the third and Tim Salmon singled in the fourth.
“He was throwing a lot of strikes,” Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia said of Wakefield. “He kept us off-balance.”
Wakefield pitched out of a jam in the fifth, getting Darin Erstad to fly out after Scott Spiezio doubled, Molina walked and Eckstein was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
“He didn't make a very good effort to get out of the way,” Wakefield said. “Considering I throw my curveball only 62 miles an hour, I wouldn't get out of the way of it that quick, either.”
Lackey (2-2) gave up one run on six hits in 6 1-3 innings, struck out three and walked three.
“You don't get a great pitching performance like that all the time and when you don't take advantage of it, it's a little tough,” Anaheim left fielder Garret Anderson said.
Garciaparra's sacrifice fly scored Rickey Henderson in the sixth as Erstad made a diving catch in center.
Daubach also flied out to center in the eighth, scoring Garciaparra, who reached on a throwing error by Glaus.
Notes: The Red Sox improved to 11-16 in one-run games; Anaheim is 20-12. ... Glaus' homer was only his second in 93 at-bats. ... The Angels have committed five errors in their last two games, both losses. ... Henderson tied Stan Musial and Eddie Murray for sixth place in career games by playing in his 3,026th. The 43-year-old singled twice, moving him within five of tying Frankie Frisch for 21st on the career singles list with 2,171. ... A single by Molina in the third inning ended a streak of 25 consecutive Angels retired by the Red Sox staff, including the last 17 Tuesday night. ... Boston RF Trot Nixon singled in the eighth to extend his career-best hitting streak to 16 games. ... Eckstein was twice hit by pitches, extending his major league lead to 20.
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Red Sox 2, Angels 1 
