In a dandy performance on a night his knuckler danced, the sleep-deprived Wakefield befuddled the beleaguered Devil Rays over seven innings to propel the Sox to a 7-3 victory before a crowd of 12,836 at Tropicana Field overrun with Boston fans.
"I wanted to win for my new son," Wakefield said, with the game ball preserved in a fresh sanitary stocking dangling from a hook in his locker to inscribe for his son. "Being a new father, I was pretty excited about that."
Wakefield, 37, made the 400th appearance of his resilient career after a chaotic three days in which he traveled from Toronto to Boston for the delivery, drove Stacy and the baby home, then rushed to Florida to rejoin the team.
"It's been a whirlwind," he said. "I'm still on cloud nine, but I'm glad we pulled out a win."
Wakefield allowed only one run on three hits and a pair of walks, but he readily confessed he needed all the help he could get from Doug Mirabelli, his catcher and close friend.
"I told Doug before the game he was going to have to help me out because my mind wasn't really there," said Wakefield, who improved to 3-2 with a 3.31 ERA while he lowered the batting average he has allowed opponents to .203.
No problem.
"He was kind of in a daze," Mirabelli said. "He just wanted me to take over and help him not think. He said, `I'm going to lean on you to keep me focused,' and I did the best I could."
Sox hitters presented Wakefield their own baby gift by erupting for five runs in the seventh inning to break open a 2-1 game. Mark Bellhorn put a bow on it by launching a three-run homer off reliever Jeremi Gonzalez after Gabe Kapler and Johnny Damon touched Tampa Bay starter Mark Hendrickson for run-scoring doubles.
"TIm was awesome," said Damon, who was lifted for precautionary reasons after shortstop Julio Lugo accidentally ran into him in the seventh inning, snapping Damon's head back. "I'm very happy for him, Stacy, and their newborn kid. It's going to be a game he always remembers."
