Cracking the code

Wakefield earned his major league-high 11th win (tying him with Colorado’s Jason Marquis) and left after he’d allowed two hits in the seventh to a rousing ovation from a crowd of 37,981.

“It’s tremendous,’’ said Wakefield. “You know the fans are so good here and they have treated me so well. I’m just happy to get out there to perform well enough for them.’’

Nobody appreciated Ortiz’s three-run shot over and to the right of the A’s bullpen in the sixth more than the knuckleballer. Ortiz blasted it off rookie righthander Trevor Cahill, who had shut out the Sox on one hit for five innings before Drew led off the sixth with a homer. That threw the pitcher’s rhythm off, and eventually up came Ortiz, who homered through a stiff wind.

“I hit it good,’’ said Ortiz. “It was a good time to do that. We needed that. I’m glad I could make that happen.’’

While Ortiz, who also knocked in what proved to be the winning run with a ground out in the seventh, spoke about how great it was that Wakefield will be an All-Star, Wakefield said of Ortiz, “All of us in the clubhouse have so much confidence in him even though he was struggling the first month or two. He’s a presence at the plate and we need that bat in the lineup every night. He’s the man, that’s for sure.’’

Wakefield surrendered 10 hits and was charged with three earned runs. The official scorer originally ruled an error on Green for failing to step on second base, but because one cannot assume the double play and because of Green’s positioning on the play, the change was made. The two runs that scored pushed Wakefield’s ERA to 4.31.