"It was exactly what we needed," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "It was a very important game."
Wakefield's knucklers, like his last start in Texas, darted and dropped with startling movement. But unlike his last start, Wakefield had a general idea of what direction they might head. He allowed only three hits and no walks, making the two RBIs apiece from Jed Lowrie and David Ortiz - not to mention the insurance, three-run blast from catcher Kevin Cash in the eighth - easily stand up.
Wakefield proved, again, that throwing a knuckleball might be the most existential act in sports: let if fly, wait to see what happens next.
"You get to him," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said, "or you don't."
Six days earlier, Wakefield recorded only five outs, walked four, and allowed four hits. Seven runs scored.
The consistent breezes and thin air in Rangers Ballpark haunt every pitcher, but the challenge doubles for Wakefield - his pitches are affected going toward the plate, not only leaving it. His knucklers bobbed uncontrollably.
Conditions posed a problem last night, too. Rain delayed the game 41 minutes, and it presented Wakefield a problem. A slippery ball complicates a knuckleballer's all-fingertips grip. It never rained quite hard enough, though, to affect Wakefield's control. He threw 65 of his 94 pitches for strikes, and never allowed a batter to settle in. On 90 percent of the 1-0 counts he faced, Wakefield threw a strike.
"Getting through eight today was huge for me," Wakefield said. "I feel great. I feel a lot better than I did last year at this time, that's for sure. I feel like it's April or May right now."
Last night, he silenced the hottest hitting team in the majors. The Blue Jays had been hitting .314 in September and romping through the American League. They didn't quite pose a serious challenge to the Red Sox in the AL East, but they were getting uncomfortably close.
"They're trying to push us," Cash said before the game. "And we're trying to knock them out."
