On a sparkling afternoon, the senior member of the Red Sox picked up a major milestone, got to tip his cap not once but twice and moved to the precipice of becoming the 111th member of the 200-win club.
After throwing 6 1/3 innings in a 12-8 victory over the Seattle Mariners, Wakefield's career win total moved to 199. The celebration for the 200th will come in time. On Sunday, however, he was given plenty of love for becoming the second pitcher to reach 2,000 strikeouts in a Red Sox uniform, doing so on a trademark knuckleball to end the sixth.
Roger Clemens is the only other hurler to achieve the feat, finishing his career in Boston with 2,590 strikeouts.
A message acknowledging Wakefield's achievement was posted on the video board, which helped clue in the unsuspecting right-hander. What followed was a bear hug from David Ortiz atop the dugout steps, high-fives from his teammates and a lengthy ovation that prompted the 44-year-old to make a curtain call.
"Pretty special, very emotional for me," Wakefield said. "I had no idea that it had happened. [Jarrod Saltalamacchia] was walking towards me. I'm like, 'What's going on?' He said, 'Congratulations, 2000 strikeouts.' Pretty cool ovation and a pretty cool day for me."
Just as manager Terry Francona did when he achieved his 1,000th career win Saturday, Wakefield expressed gratitude for the position he's in.
"Any milestone you achieve is ranked up there pretty high with me," he said. "Two thousand is a high number and says a lot about being in a place for a long time like I have. Going through ups and downs in my career and being able to persevere for the last 17 years."
Wakefield is in line to get his chance to go for his 200th victory at Chicago on Friday. If he misses out there, he'll likely have a shot during the ensuing seven-game homestand. Cleveland would be the likely opponent.
For the most part, Wakefield has somewhat shied away from talk of that milestone. But it's hard for him to ignore how close he really is after picking up his sixth win of the 2011 season.
"One step closer," he said. "I've been fortunate this year to pitch as well as I have. The last couple haven't been that great, but they've been good enough. I've been fortunate to be on a great team and to get some wins here and there."
