Tim Wakefield pitches 5 scoreless innings to lead Red Sox split-squad to 6-0 win over Orioles

Wakefield goes 5 innings as Sox blank Orioles 6-0

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Tim Wakefield went five scoreless innings, giving up two hits and two walks with three strikeouts, and the Boston Red Sox beat a split squad of Baltimore Orioles 6-0 on Saturday.

“(It’s) fun watching guys put up zeros,” said manager Terry Francona. “(He was) in the zone for the most part, lot of pop ups, in command of the game. He did a good job.”

Baltimore rookie right-hander Chris Tillman also pitched five innings, giving up two runs on two hits — a fourth-inning double to Dustin Pedroia followed by a home run to left field by Kevin Youkilis — and a walk with one strikeout.

“I thought it went real well today,” Tillman said. “I felt good warming up before the game and when I missed, I missed down. I felt real good about it, even the two hits. Pedroia, I thought that was a great pitch, but he got his hands to it. I was happy with it. And the one that Youkilis hit out, I went back to the cutter. It’s a new pitch, and I was fairly happy with it. It was a little bit up and he just barreled it up.”

Tillman was a second-round pick of the Seattle Mariners in 2006 but was traded to the Orioles, along with four players, for pitcher Erik Bedard before the 2008 season.

“Good, real good,” Francona said of Tillman’s outing. “They made some moves a couple years ago that, their young kids weren’t ready to show at the big league level. But now, unfortunately, some of those kids are starting to mature and we’re going to see them in the big leagues. They got a chance to be pretty good.”

Each starting pitcher rebounded well from his previous outing — against the same team. In his last start Monday, Wakefield gave up five runs on nine hits in 3 2-3 innings to the Orioles. Tillman gave up two runs on four hits and three walks in 2 2-3 innings in the same game.

The home run was the first of the Grapefruit League season for Youkilis. Pedroia went 2 for 3 and is hitting .367 this spring.

NOTES: The Red Sox signed LHP Alan Embree to a minor league contract, with a spring training invitation as a non-roster player. Embree returns for a second stint in the Red Sox organization after going 8-9 with four saves and a 4.69 ERA in 211 relief appearances with the club from 2002-05. Embree induced a ground ball by Ruben Sierra for the final out of Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS in Yankee Stadium. … RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka is scheduled to pitch in a minor league instrasquad game at the player development complex Sunday. It will be his first game activity of the spring after being slowed by back and neck ailments. … The Red Sox optioned LHP Felix Doubront and C Mark Wagner to Triple-A Pawtucket, and reassigned INF Gil Velazquez to minor league camp.