For the second time in his last three starts, Wakefield went nine innings, but the Sox' offense could do nothing for him in the seventh through ninth innings after David Ortiz's home run tied the score at 2-2 in the sixth.
''What a thrill to watch him," Francona said of Wakefield.
As superb as Wakefield was, the A's bullpen matched him in the late innings.
Justin Duchscherer's 2 1/3 scoreless innings, from the final out of the seventh to striking out the side in the ninth, kept Wakefield out of the win column.
The A's used four pitchers to retire the Sox in the seventh and preserve the 2-2 tie. The Sox' first two batters reached against starter Joe Kennedy, a walk by Kevin Youkilis and an infield single to shortstop by Doug Mirabelli.
A's manager Ken Macha began his maneuvers at this point. He summoned righthander Kiko Calero to face the bottom of the order, No. 8 hitter Bill Mueller and No. 9 hitter Tony Graffanino. He struck out both. Macha made the switch to lefthander Ricardo Rincon to face Johnny Damon. It was a good battle, as Damon drew a walk to load the bases with two outs. And with Edgar Renteria due up, Macha went to the mound once more to bring on Justin Duchscherer.
The result was frustrating for Sox fans -- a ground out to shortstop, ending the inning.
The Sox never had anyone warm up during the long inning, which meant Wakefield was going to pitch the eighth. Wakefield didn't seem affected by the downtime. He retired the A's 1-2-3, and he was as economical in the ninth.
The scoreboard indicated the Yankees were well on their way to victory over the Blue Jays by the time the 1-hour-37-minute rain delay gave way to intermittent rain, wind, and just plain lousy weather for baseball. Though by the sixth inning in Boston, the Blue Jays had closed the gap to 11-10 after an 11-3 deficit.
Sox players have admitted lately that they do peek at the scoreboard, and despite the fact that Randy Johnson was ejected in the second inning in Toronto for arguing balls and strikes, the Yankees were clicking. And the Sox knew it.
Wakefield has been the most consistent Sox pitcher this season, though he was the tough-luck loser, 1-0, to the Yankees and Johnson last Sunday, when he went eight innings and allowed three hits with 12 strikeouts.
