BOSTON (AP) -- Tim Wakefield got his 100th major league victory,
thanks to his elusive knuckleball.

width=65> height=90 align=right alt="Tim Wakefield">

Nomar Garciaparra and Johnny Damon backed Wakefield's stellar
outing Sunday with RBI doubles for the Boston Red Sox in their 3-1
win over the Minnesota Twins.

"Wake is capable of doing that each and every time he goes out
there,'' Red Sox manager Grady Little said. "If that knuckleball
is working, it is tough to hit.''

Just two Twins' batters reached base against Wakefield (6-4)
through the first five innings. Jacque Jones reached on an error by
first baseman Tony Clark in the first and Dustin Mohr had an
infield single in the second. He allowed four hits overall.

"It is a special win today. My parents were here to see it and
they saw my first,'' Wakefield said. "It's a special win for us as
a team, considering we haven't been playing too good.''

Wakefield joined Pedro Martinez (148) and John Burkett (151) as
pitchers on the current Boston staff with 100 or more wins.

He matched his season high with seven strikeouts for the Red
Sox, who took two of three from the AL Central-leading Twins.

"It's been a lot easier this season because of Grady,''
Wakefield said. "He has confidence in me to either start or
relieve. In years past I was shunned to the bullpen -- for what
reason I don't know.''

Garciaparra extended his hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI
double in the eighth that gave Boston a 3-1 lead.

Ugueth Urbina pitched a perfect ninth for his 28th save.

Johan Santana (6-4) allowed one hit through the first five
innings, but the Red Sox scored twice on Damon's double and a
sacrifice fly by Shea Hillenbrand in the sixth to go up 2-0.

"Santana is a great pitcher and his slider is very effective.
He threw four straight sliders to me at one point and they were all
good pitches,'' Damon said.

Lou Merloni walked to lead off the sixth inning and advanced to
second on a wild pitch. Damon followed with a double down the
left-field line to score Merloni.

Garciaparra then walked and Manny Ramirez reached on an infield
single to load the bases. Bob Wells came on and gave up
Hillenbrand's sacrifice fly that scored Damon to make it 2-0.

"The kid (Santana) deserved better. He made some pitches, he
deserved better than what he got. He still gave us almost six solid
innings. It should have been six plus,'' Twins manager Ron
Gardenhire said.

Santana gave up two runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings while
striking out seven and walking three.

"I pitched good enough to help the team win this game,''
Santana said. "But the umpire was tough.''

Minnesota cut the lead to 2-1 in the seventh when Cristian
Guzman led off with a double. Torii Hunter then lined an RBI single
to center.

Game notes
Red Sox pitchers have not walked a batter in their last 21
innings. ... Wakefield did not issue a walk for the fourth time in
seven starts. ... Merloni's double in the third inning gave the Red
Sox 27 in their last 28 games. They are third in the American
League in that category with 241. ... Damon extended his
consectuive-game streak without an error to 234. ... Guzman
extended his season-high hitting streak to 10 games Sunday. ...
Rivas extended his hitting streak to nine games. Torii Hunter is
hitting .315 in his last 23 games. ... The Twins are 30-29 on the
road this season and 12-14 against Eastern Division teams.