Not bad for an old guy who can barely break 70 on the radar gun.
Tim Wakefield struck out Vernon Wells to end the top of the fourth inning for his 2,000th strikeout of his career. In doing so, he became just the 64th major league pitcher to reach the 2KK club and is fourth among active pitchers behind Jamie Moyer (2,362), Javier Vazquez (2,273) and Andy Pettitte (2,177).
He finished the day with five strikeouts in seven innings pitched.
Wake also became the first pitcher to record his 2,000th career strikeout with the Red Sox since David Wells did it on May 3, 2005 against the Angels at Fenway Park.
Here are some other impressive stats for Wakefield following his 570th career game:
- His 2,749 2/3 innings pitched in his Red Sox career are second in club history behind Roger
Clemens' 2,776. He passed third-place Cy Young on April 20, 2010. - His 189 career victories are third among active pitchers behind Moyer (262) and
Pettitte (233). - His 175 wins for with the Red Sox ranks him third in club history behind Clemens and
Young (192 each). - His 91 wins at Fenway Park are second all time behind Clemens' 100 wins.
- His next win will make him just the fifth AL right-hander ever to post a victory in at least 16 consecutive seasons for the same team, joining Walter Johnson (21 for Washington from 1907-27), Red Faber (20 for Chicago White Sox from 1914-33), Ted Lyons (20 for Chicago White Sox from 1923-42) and Mel Harder (19 for Clevelans from1929-47).
- Wakefield is the active player with the longest continuous service in a Red Sox uniform and joins Yankees' closer Mariano Rivera as only active Major League pitchers to play with same club continuously since at least 1995.
- His 16 seasons with the Red Sox are the most in club history among pitchers and he is tied with Jim Rice for the fourth-most seasons in club history behind only Carl Yastrzemski (23), Dwight Evans (19) and Ted Williams (19).
