Red Sox 5, Cubs 1
Adrian Gonzalez went 4-for-4 and scored twice and Tim Wakefield tossed six-plus strong innings as the Boston Red Sox cruised to a 5-1 home triumph over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia belted his third homer in four contests and Kevin Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a two-run triple in the seventh inning for Boston, which secured its eighth win in nine outings.
Gonzalez collected three singles and a double on Sunday to improve to 10-for-15 in the three-game series. He also had four hits on Friday as the Red Sox posted a 15-5 victory over the Cubs.
The offense was more than enough for Wakefield (1-1), who was making just his third start of the season. The 44-year-old knuckleballer allowed one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings to improve to 4-1 in six career starts against the Cubs.
Jeff Baker belted an RBI double in the seventh to chase Wakefield, but Chicago could not solve Daniel Bard or Jonathan Papelbon over the final 2 1/3 innings. Bard retired all four batters he faced and Papelbon got the final three outs to preserve the win.
With Matt Garza being scratched due to a sore elbow, James Russell (1-5) made the spot start for his second appearance in this series. After tossing three scoreless innings of relief on Friday, the 25-year-old lefthander allowed three runs and seven hits in four frames in this one.