However, the same challenges face the Red Sox: The Blue Jays remain in first; Julio Lugo made a throwing error; and Ortiz, in his return to the third spot in the batting order, went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts.
For one night, a 42-year-old knuckleballer made those issues irrelevant. Wakefield has pitched his best this year when the Sox needed him most. Last night, with the Sox coming off a 2-4 road trip, qualified. Wakefield allowed only five hits and served as his own bridge to Jonathan Papelbon, who pitched a perfect ninth and slammed the door on his 11th save in 11 chances.
"It seems like he has responded to some times when things aren't going perfect," manager Terry Francona said.
In his second start this season, Wakefield nearly threw a no-hitter, the night after the bullpen worked 10 innings. While the other four starters have largely scuffled, Wakefield has complied a 3.59 ERA.
"I guess I've just been that guy," Wakefield said. "It's not like I'm trying harder. Knowing the situation, I'm just going out there, and my job as a starter is to go deep in a game and keep us in the game as long as possible. Tonight was one of those nights where I had very good stuff."
The Sox offense, again, got no lift from Ortiz. He received an ovation before each of his four plate appearances, the crowd saving its loudest cheers for his final at-bat. With Dustin Pedroia on first, Ortiz walked to the plate as Fenway shook from the crowd's chants of "Pa-pi! Pa-pi!"
"Before that at-bat, all of us were like, 'This is the at-bat. This is the one,' " Jason Bay said.
The movie-script moment ended with a groan. B.J. Ryan struck out Ortiz, who walked back to the dugout pained as ever, his homerless streak reaching 133 at-bats for the season, his slump growing to 1 for his last 17.
But Wakefield made Ortiz's slump a problem for another day. In his last start, he allowed the Angels 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings, taking his second loss of the season. He noticed intricate flaws with his mechanics, which led to improper location.
