“Obviously disappointing,’’ said Wakefield, an apt summation of the day and season so far.
Wakefield went 6 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits with one walk. He struck out five and guided 74 of his 108 pitches over the plate for strikes. But the 4-1 lead Wakefield handed to Hideki Okajima disappeared quickly.
Nick Markakis ripped an RBI double off the wall in left-center before Miguel Tejada lined a tying homer off the foul pole in left. The blown save denied Wakefield his 190th career victory.
The bullpen allowed three more runs in the 10th inning thanks to a curious and costly decision by manager Terry Francona.
After the oft-used Daniel Bard struck out the side in the ninth on only 15 pitches, Francona went to Scott Atchison to start the next inning. Jonathan Papelbon, who had pitched in four of the previous five games, was not available. But Manny Delcarmen was.
Opponents were hitting .083 against Delcarmen this season and the righthander had not pitched since Tuesday, the night his fastball hit 96 miles per hour for the first time this season. The first three hitters due up for Baltimore — Tejada, Luke Scott, and Ty Wigginton — were 3 for 19 against him.
“We thought about both [Atchison and Delcarmen]. We had Scotty up,’’ Francona said. “We thought he would throw strikes and we didn’t anticipate the inning unfolding the way it did.’’
Atchison (0-1) couldn’t get so much as one out. Tejada singled and went to third on a double by Scott before Wigginton walked to load the bases. Scott Schoeneweis was next out of the bullpen and gave up singles to Rhyne Hughes and Matt Wieters as the Orioles scored three runs.
“I couldn’t get them to chase at a couple of pitches,’’ said Atchison, the pitcher likely to be demoted once Daisuke Matsuzaka joins the rotation on Saturday and Wakefield goes to the bullpen. “That happens sometimes. I didn’t throw the ball overly well. They put together a couple of hits.’’
By the time Delcarmen came in and easily retired the two batters he faced the Sox were down, 7-4.
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