Catcher cashed in with bat

Kevin Cash knows he's not in the Red Sox lineup for his offense. The defensive-minded catcher was behind the plate last night to catch knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

It just so happens it was against Cash's former team, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Cash, who is subbing for Doug Mirabelli while Mirabelli recovers from a strained right calf, said his objective going into any game is to contribute any way he can.

Although it was far from a great outing for Wakefield, who lasted just three plus innings, Cash got into the action in the Red Sox hitting marathon as Boston rallied from an 8-1 deficit to win, 16-10, at Fenway Park. The 30-year-old Tampa native snapped an 0-for-12 drought at the plate, driving in a pair of runs with a single in the fourth inning, during which the Red Sox scored four times. Cash finished the night with three RBIs, tying a career high.

Cash said he thought Wakefield was on track for a good outing.

"He came out and I thought he had a good knuckleball in the bullpen," said Cash, a former Cape Cod League All-Star. "He actually had a pretty good one going in the second inning when they scored [four] runs.

"They just hit some good pitches, and as the game went on, you could tell he maybe started to pull some balls a little bit more coming out of his delivery, but he's had a lot of success against that team.

"Those guys obviously have a good offense, and they probably made some adjustments and laid off some pitches that they hadn't in the past and waited on that pitch more in the zone."

It marked the first time Wakefield had gone less than four innings in consecutive starts since April 16-21, 1999. It was his shortest stint since he went two innings on Sept. 28, 2003, at Tampa Bay.

Cash laughed when asked if there was any cause for concern about the veteran.

"I don't think so, no," he said. "The guy's been around for 15 years. He's as important as anybody on this team."

During the Red Sox' fourth inning, in which they sent nine batters to the plate, Cash said it was fun to be a part of the comeback. With the bases loaded, he hit a liner to right on a 3-and-2 pitch from Andy Sonnanstine to cut the deficit to 8-4.

"It was exciting," said Cash. "Sonnanstine throws a lot of balls away. He cuts the ball and throws a lot of sliders. I tried to just stay on it as long as I could. It was a pretty good pitch, I think it was on the corner and I was able to stay on it.

"I've been pulling an awful lot of balls lately and I made a nice adjustment. Hopefully, I can keep that up.

"Obviously, I've been struggling and you want to contribute to a high-scoring offensive team. When I get my chance to play, I want to be able to say I contributed."

The offensive explosion was especially welcome after a shutout loss Monday night when Tampa Bay starter Scott Kazmir was ultra-stingy.

"It was fun to be a part of," said Cash, who was playing in his ninth major league game this season. "Not that this was a must-win game, but it was a big game for us to win. We got down early and it was nice it came early and gave us a little bit of time to get some momentum and come back.

"Everything is so important now. It's big. We needed this."