In the end, Red Sox lack enough punch

Chicago's Aaron Rowand struck both blows off Wakefield, including a decisive shot amid a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning, propelling the White Sox to an 8-7 victory before a rain-soaked 35,028 at Fenway Park. Wakefield and Co. landed on the canvas before the 120th consecutive sellout crowd on Yawkey Way as Chicago ended a run in which the Sox had won nine of their previous 10 games on Friday the 13th.

Nothing funny about that. Not when a last-gasp rally, capped by a two-run homer by Millar with one out in the ninth inning, fell excruciatingly short. And not when Wakefield remained a victim of his fickle knuckler, which has sustained him for 12 years in the bigs but has occasionally deserted him in crushing fashion. With Rowand's two blasts, Wakefield has surrendered 14 home runs in 35 1/3 innings over his last six outings, one of the worst home run binges of his career.

"I'm frustrated," Wakefield said. "I'm working hard between starts trying to maybe figure something out. One thing might click in my head that I might be doing wrong, or I might be thinking too much. I don't know."

The Sox spared the knuckleballer his last time out by erupting for an 11-9 victory over the Tigers after he tied a post-1900 major league record by surrendering six home runs in a game. But they were unable to recover this time after Wakefield allowed six runs on six hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings in dropping to 8-7 with a 4.67 ERA.

"The long ball has kind of been hurting him for sure," manager Terry Francona said.

The bullpen also did Wakefield no favors. After the knuckleballer departed trailing, 5-4, with one out and a runner on second base in the seventh inning, Mike Timlin lasted long enough to walk Joe Crede before Alan Embree faced two batters, including Juan Uribe, who pinch hit for Roberto Alomar and stroked a double, allowing the runner Wakefield left behind to score.

Embree said he and Timlin may have been a bit rusty from not pitching for a while, Embree since Monday and Timlin since Sunday.

"If anything, getting out there again felt good," Embree said. "Hopefully, that's just something that will strengthen us up for [tonight]."

If only the results were as positive as the feeling.