And, for at least another day, it kept the Yankees at bay. With the team still a half-game up in the American League East, and with two more games against the Royals this week, Red Sox Nation can hold its panic for now.
``We're a little beat up, a little banged up, deep into our pen a couple nights in a row," manager Terry Francona said. ``We're kind of sitting there saying, `OK, this is a chance for us to show what kind of a ballclub we are.' I think we did that tonight. I called [bullpen coach] Ralph [Treuel] in the fifth inning and said, `Tell those guys to put their seat belts on, because they're all going to pitch and we're going to win.' "
They did, sure. But, in a way, the Red Sox might have lost. And no one, including Francona, is quite sure how long this one is going to last. Because Wakefield, one of the team's most reliable starters, was pulled with an upper back strain, an injury that has pushed his starts back twice, and has left him in pain on the mound.
``I know he gave up runs, I actually thought he was throwing the ball very well," Francona said. ``Starting after that you could see him, at least we thought, kind of gritting his teeth, kind of flinching a little bit. It was grabbing at him.
``He's been out there enough that he knew the situation, had to pitch some innings. Tried to tough it out, and I think he was more than willing to keep toughing it out, but I grabbed him after the fourth and said, `This isn't going to work. This is silly.' "
So off he went, to tests and doctors and a day-to-day status that could land him on the disabled list.
Wakefield left the field with a 3-0 deficit, the result of a soft second inning that featured a hit batter, a line single to right, two walks (including one to No. 9 hitter John Buck on a fastball), and a squibber of a single just past the glove of diving third baseman Mike Lowell, who had been playing in on David DeJesus. The deficit grew to 4-0 in the sixth inning.
