G64: Red Sox 8, Marlins 2

Marlins - 001 010 000 - 2  7  1
Red Sox - 011 600 00x - 8 13  0

Wakefield (6-6-2-1-4, 93) earned his 173rd win as a Red Sox pitcher. He needs only 20 more to surpass Cy Young and Roger Clemens and become the team's new all-time leader. If all goes well, it should come in the latter half of next season.

David Ortiz, hitting in the #5 spot, clubbed his 5th home run of the season leading off the fourth inning. The Red Sox sent 11 men to the plate -- Volstad's sinker stopped sinking and the Boston hitters were bringing forks and knives to the plate to dine on his fastball -- and Ortiz also drove in the final run of that frame with an RBI single. He walked in the sixth and just missed a home run in his first at-bat, flying out to deep right-center in the second.

Dustin Pedroia and the bottom third of the lineup -- Jacoby Ellsbury, Nick Green and George Kottaras -- each had two hits. Ellsbury also stole two bases and scored twice. Green drove in three runs.

After Wakefield departed, Manny Delcarmen (P8, K, 1-3), Takashi Saito (4-3, 6-3, F8) and Daniel Bard (K, single, 5-3, P3) did the rest.

Bard took Hanley Ramirez apart to start the ninth, getting him to swing and miss a first pitch fastball. He threw a ball out of the zone, then dropped a curve at 85 for another swing and a miss before fanning him on a 98 heater.

***

Chris Volstad (4.07, 104 ERA+) / Tim Wakefield (4.50, 105 ERA+)

Wakefield in 2009:

                ERA  IP   H  BB   K   AVG  OBP  SLG
First 6 starts 2.92  40  27  18  25  .186 .304 .262
Last 7 starts  6.25  36  48  16  18  .320 .393 .480

In his last eight games, Dustin Pedroia has gone 4-for-36. He had Sunday off, as well as yesterday's off-day.

I'm just beat up a little bit. My legs feel heavy. Tito, he always seems like he makes [the day off] the right time.

MLB.com:

Volstad's last outing was the worst in his young career. For the first time in his career, he allowed six runs, 10 hits and did not strike out a batter. The 22-year-old was in trouble in almost every inning when he faced the Cardinals last Tuesday and struggled from the start, allowing a three-run homer in the top of the first.

It's only 38 plate appearances, but David Ortiz has a nifty 1.001 OPS in June (.303/.395/.606), with three home runs and seven RBIs.