Sunday, May 22, 2011

Cubs CF Byrd placed on 15-day DL after beaning


Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd was released from the hospital and back at Fenway Park after being placed on the 15-day disabled list with multiple facial fractures on Sunday, his left eye blackened and swollen nearly shut but his vision improved one day after being hit in the face with by a fastball."An inch to the right or left and it might have been right in my eye. As long as I have my sight," he told reporters after the Cubs lost 5-1 to the Boston Red Sox. "I'm very lucky that it's only a fracture. I thought it might have been worse. My first thought was that I didn't know what was going on. Once I started getting my sight back, it was OK."Tim Wakefield held Chicago to four hits in 6 2-3 innings to help Boston beat the Cubs in their first visit to Fenway Park since the 1918 World Series. It was Wakefield's first win of the season and the 180th of his Red Sox career — third on the franchise all-time list behind only Roger Clemens and Cy Young.Adrian Gonzalez had four hits as Boston took two out of three from Chicago. The Red Sox have now won eight of their last nine overall to all but erase the damage of their awful April and move one-half game behind the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.Making his third start of the season, this one because of injuries to John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Wakefield (1-1) had faced the minimum number of batters when he struck out Jeff Baker with what would have been the third out of the fifth inning.Baker reached safely when the ball got past catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. That was just the third baserunner in the first six innings against Wakefield."When you're asked to do a job and you do it well — I take a lot of pride in that," said Wakefield, who needs 12 more wins to tie Clemens and Young at 192 in a Boston uniform.Wakefield gave up a pair of doubles in the seventh for Chicago's only run, struck out three and walked none before leaving with two out in the seventh.

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