The pitcher always ready to sacrifice himself for the team, always the first to pick up his spikes and head out to the bullpen, picked up his spikes again yesterday. And he almost made history.
Less than 18 hours after Matsuzaka decimated the bullpen, leaving them with 11 innings to pitch when he could manage only one, Wakefield didn't require any help in his complete-game, four-hit effort, an 8-2 win over the A's in front of 35,067 at the Oakland Coliseum.
But it was more than that, more than a staff-saving outing, more than a badly needed win for a poorly performing team. Wakefield didn't give up a hit through 7 1/3 innings, until Kurt Suzuki evoked memories of Shannon Stewart.
"I told him, I said, 'Listen, I understand the circumstances of the day, and I just want you to know whatever happens - don't take me out. Let me keep going,' " said Wakefield, who had come within two outs of a no-hitter June 19, 2001, against Tampa Bay.
It was an easy decision for Francona to let Takashi Saito remain on the bullpen mound. Because, other than hiccups in the eighth and ninth, Wakefield had this one, reminiscent of Curt Schilling's no-hit bid two years ago in the same stadium that was denied one out shy on a line single by Stewart.
Yesterday's win was one that, Francona said, "We desperately needed," given that there were few pitching options for a team in danger of slipping five games under .500 just three series into the season.
"Obviously, you have to be more economical when you have to go deep in the game," Wakefield said. "I was able to throw a lot of strikes, and that was one thing I really concentrated on going into the game, is get the first-pitch strikes and get them swinging early. They did that."
After Mike Lowell contributed a second-inning two-run home run to put the Sox up, 2-0, it was left to Wakefield and the defense. And there were significant moments for both.
