Zink called to fill in for Wakefield
CHICAGO - Charlie Zink had long suspected that no team, even the Red Sox, would be able to justify having two knuckleball pitchers in the rotation. So it would make perfect sense to him that, when Tim Wakefield goes on the disabled list today, it will be Zink who fills the slot.
With Zink having a stellar season in Pawtucket - 13-4 with a 2.89 ERA - he was an obvious candidate to fill an opening in the rotation, no matter who went down. But because it was Wakefield, that makes the transition even smoother. The one problem was that Zink last pitched Friday, meaning today's start will be on three days of rest, though that is less of a concern for a 28-year-old knuckleballer than it would be for a more traditional pitcher.
"I think everybody felt it was kind of a breakout year for him," manager Terry Francona said. "I've heard his name a lot - not like somebody's beating my door down - but if you look at the reports, he's done well.
"This seems like a really good opportunity to let him pitch. He's been throwing the ball well. The idea will be to slow the Rangers down a little bit."
Though Wakefield threw entirely knuckleballs in his last start, against the Royals, Zink's game is slightly different. He throws fewer "other" pitches, like fastballs and curveballs, even though his fastball is faster than Wakefield's, coming in around the low to mid 80s. Red Sox director of player development Mike Hazen said recently that Zink's improvement from last year (11-6, 4.63, between Portland and Pawtucket) to this has to do with an increased maturity level and an increased commitment to throwing knuckleballs in any count.
"It just gradually kept getting better and better," Zink said two weeks ago. "Now it's finally to the point where I'm not ever worried about throwing a ball. Full counts, I'll throw a knuckleball still. I don't worry about walking people anymore.
"A lot of it is me just having to believe in it. I always wanted to go back to throwing hard. Now I know I can't do that anymore, so I have to be able to figure it out to throw consistent knuckleballs up there that will move and hopefully not get hit hard."
Said Kevin Cash, who caught Zink in the minors last season, "He pitches a lot like Wake as far as he throws his knuckleball for strikes. When he gets behind 2-and-0, 3-and-1, he is still committed to throwing a knuckleball. That's big. If you're not doing that, you are going to get in trouble throwing 80-mile-per-hour fastballs."
Wakefield was examined by Dr. Thomas Gill today in Boston, and received a cortisone shot. He will be down for three days without throwing, and will be examined in the meantime. Francona said the injury Wakefield had in the postseason last year was much further along than this one, so the Sox are hoping they get him back without having him miss too many starts.
"I think Tom kind of concurred with what everybody else thought," Francona said. "It was probably a good idea that he not pitch. We maybe hopefully stayed ahead of this thing and that, given the few days down from throwing, get him back up and get him back. There was nothing that stood out structurally or anything like that on the MRI."
Pep talk for Buchholz
Francona and John Farrell spent time today speaking with Clay Buchholz, who has looked absolutely lost in his last eight starts (0-6, 8.19 ERA). But with the rotation already missing a piece in Wakefield, this would be a difficult time to shift the starters even more.
"I think we've really been so committed to this guy and, I understand, we're seeing it, too," Francona said. "Last year when he was pitching [against] Baltimore, it looked so easy. Well, right now, it's not easy. You're playing good major league teams, and they're doing everything in their power to find a way to exploit anything you do.
"So we're kind of trying to balance trying to help and not beating him over the head with stuff. That's actually not the easiest thing, but we're spending some time talking to him about things, just trying to make progress."
In their conversation with Buchholz, Francona and Farrell used Jon Lester as an example, given Lester's struggles earlier this season. The tempo of games has been an issue with both pitchers, in that they have both attempted to slow down the action when a pitch doesn't go as planned, "instead of trying to get in that rhythm of attacking the strike zone," Francona said.
The manager did emphasize that he thinks Buchholz's stuff has been good, while it's the execution that needs work, citing specifically his changeup, which has "cut a little bit on him" at times, limiting the deception.
Ortiz sits it out
David Ortiz got the night off because of a "tender, stiff" left wrist, according to Francona. "I'd like to play him every single day because he's a big threat, but I think we both thought it was the right day not to play," Francona said. Ortiz felt a clicking in the wrist while the team was in Kansas City last week. Ortiz is expected to return to the lineup tonight in Boston . . . With Ortiz out, J.D. Drew served as the designated hitter. Drew had been a DH in just seven games in his career, including one this season, and a pinch hitting spot in 2007 . . . Kevin Youkilis was back in the lineup, though he apparently is still feeling that impingement in his left shoulder.
Rehab continues
Bartolo Colon went home to see his ailing father, but he is expected to make his next start on schedule. The team is hoping Colon will throw about 45-50 pitches in his next rehab start, his third in this go-round with Pawtucket, followed by about 65 in the one after that. There is no specific timetable for his return, but it's unlikely that he would be back to Boston before September . . . When Zink takes the mound tonight, it will mark the third time in Sox history that the team has used two knuckleballers in the same season, with Andy Karl and Dick Newsome in 1943, and Hal Brown and Ben Flowers in 1953.
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com; Globe correspondent Daniel I. Dorfman contributed to this report.
