Wakefield takes loss despite solid outing

Red Sox SP Tim Wakefield started Friday at Oakland and gave up two homers in a game for the third time this season -- one to Frank Thomas and one to Mark Ellis. "The one I didn't expect was Ellis," Wakefield said. "I think my mechanics are a little off right now. It was a grind." Wakefield allowed eight runs one eight hits and four walks in five innings, striking out four. He now has a 5.19 ERA this season and an 11.77 mark over his last three starts.

Red Sox SP Tim Wakefield gave up three runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader against the Brewers, walking three and striking out five. He left with a 5-1 lead, but David Aardsma allowed a pair of inherited runners to score and Craig Hansen gave up three unearned runs to give Milwaukee a 6-5 lead and Wakefield a no-decision.

Red Sox SP Tim Wakefield, coming off a combined shutout against the Tigers, turned in an atypically brutal start at Minnesota on Sunday. Wakefield's knuckleball always seems to bite a little bit harder in the Metrodome, with the 41-year-old entering 7-3 with a 3.95 ERA in his career under the puffy white roof. But he gave up seven runs -- six earned -- on seven hits in just 2 2/3 innings Sunday, the earliest he's been knocked out of a start since June 20, 1997, at Detroit, when he lasted just 2 1/3 innings. He suffered the loss, striking out two and walking two.

Tim Wakefield and Mike Timlin had no idea they were making history Tuesday night. For the first time in baseball's modern era, the Boston Red Sox had two pitchers over 40 combine on a shutout. Wakefield gave up just two hits in eight innings and Timlin got the final three outs of a 5-0 victory over the Tigers. That was the only time that's happened since 1900, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. "It's pretty cool," Wakefield said Wednesday. "I didn't know it until they told me, but it's nice to know you're the first."

Tim Wakefield allowed two hits in eight shutout innings to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 5-0 victory against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night. Wakefield's knuckler was in classic form as it befuddled the Tigers all night long as he improved his record to 3-1, with his first victory since April 20. He had a season-high six strikeouts and didn't walk a batter. The only hits Wakefield allowed were Carlos Guillen's two-out single in the first and Ivan Rodriguez's double with two out in the eighth. He retired 17 in a row from the first inning until second baseman Dustin Pedroia booted Guillen's grounder for an error with one out in the seventh. Wakefield then retired Magglio Ordonez on a pop to short and Miguel Cabrera on a weak fly to left to end the inning.

Wakefield stymies slumping Tigers

Red Sox SP Tim Wakefield (2-1) lost for the first time in seven starts Thursday after giving up three runs and six hits in seven innings during a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Blue Jays. The knuckleballer walked four and didn't record a strikeout. "I didn't have the command I would like to have," Wakefield said. "You've got to tip your cap to A.J., though, because he did a great job for them."