by Todd Lammi

Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox pitched his second consecutive complete game, albeit it a rain-shortened seven-inning one, in a 10-1 win over the Minnesota Twins. Kevin Youkilis hit his fourth home run of the year for the Red Sox and Mike Lowell hit his third. Scott Baker of the Twins was roughed up again in his second start back from the disabled list. I would recommend benching Baker in all fantasy baseball formats until he strings a couple of good starts together. Same goes for Francisco Liriano, who was pounded in the second game of the double header for seven runs in four innings in a 7-3 loss to the Red Sox. Justim Mourneau hit his third home run of the year for the Twins . In other fantasy baseball happenings around the diamond on Wednesday….

American League:

Melky Cabrera hit two home runs, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the New York Yankees a 9-7 win over the Oakland Athletics. Derek Jeter added his fourth long ball of the season for the Yankees. Kurt Suzuki conitnues to be the lone hot A’s hitter. Suzuki hit his first home run of the season and drove in three runs…..John Danks allowed one run in seven innings to lead the Chicago White Sox to an 8-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Jim Thome hit his fourth home run of the year and Josh Fields hit his first. Alexei Ramirez and Chris Getz each stole their second base of the season for the White Sox. Luke Scott of the Orioles hit his third home run of the season…..Brian Bannister, just recalled from Triple-A on Tuesday, threw six shutout innings to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Grady Sizemore stole his third base of the year for the Tribe. It is telling how bad the Cleveland Indians bullpen has been that Cliff Lee had to throw 122 pitches in the third week of the season. Lee went eight innings, allowing two runs with five strikeouts…..The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Texas Rangers 8-7 in 11 innings. Rod Barajas hit two home runs and drove in four runs. B.J. Ryan blew the save for the Blue Jays, allowing three runs in the ninth inning. Michael Young hit his fourth home run for the Rangers.

National League:

Braden Looper pitched six shutout innings to give the Milwaukee Brewers a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Todd Coffey picked up his second save of the season. J.J. Hardy hit his third home run of the year for Milwaukee. Jason Werth hit his second home run of the season for the Phillies…..Paul Maholm of the Pittsburgh Pirates improved to 3-0 with a 7-4 win over the Florida Marlins. Nyjer Morgan stole two bases to give him six on the season. Emilio Bonifacio stole his 5th base for the Marlins……Dan Haren took matters into his own hands by throwing seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts to help the Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the Colorado Rockies 2-0. Haren had received only one run of support in his previous three starts. Ryan Spillborghs went 4 for 5 for Colorado and stole his first base of the season……The San Francisco Giants defeated the San Diego Padres 1-0 in 10 innings. Chris Young and Barry Zito mirrored starts by tossing seven shutout innings. Emmaanuel Burriss stole his fourth base of the year for the Giants…..The Washington Nationals bullpen failed them again, walking in the winning run in the top of the ninth inning in a 1-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Jair Jurrjens threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings for the Braves. Rafael Soriano picked up his second save of the season instead of Mike Gonzalez, who  pitched the eighth inning. John Lannan threw seven shutout innings for the Nationals…..Johnny Cueto tossed seven scoreless innings to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-0 win over the Chicago Cubs. Jay Bruce hit his third home run for the Reds. Ted Lilly allowed no earned runs in seven innings for the Cubs, while striking out two…..Lance Berkman hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning to propel the Houston Astros to a 6-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hunter Pence also hit his fourth home run for the Astros. For the Dodgers, Manny Ramirez (4), Andre Ethier (5) and Casey Blake (4) all went deep. LaTroy Hawkins got the save in place of Jose Valverde, who was out with a bruised ankle and pulled calf muscle…..Joel Piniero went to 3-0 after allowing two runs in eight innings in the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 win over the New York Mets. Ryan Franklin picked up his fourth save of the year.