• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Wakefield leads Red Sox over Devil Rays

Aug 14, 2007 - 3:39 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Tim Wakefield continued his dominance against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Wakefield carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning in the Boston Red Sox's 3-0 victory over the Devil Rays on Monday.

While improving to 18-2 lifetime against the Devil Rays, Wakefield had his no-hitter spoiled when Carl Crawford led off the seventh with a single. Crawford advanced to third, but Wakefield stranded the potential tying run by striking out Delmon Young to end the threat.

"Probably after five, I knew," Wakefield said when asked if he was aware of the no-hitter. "It's such a close ballgame and you're just trying to keep runners off base, especially the top three guys in the lineup that can run really, really well."

The 41-year-old retired nine in a row to begin the game before walking Akinori Iwamura to start the fourth inning. Dioner Navarro walked with one out in the sixth and Johnny Gomes singled in the eighth to represent the only other batters to reach base against Wakefield.

"He had a good bullpen, the ball was coming out of his hand clean and it had a lot of life down there," catcher Doug Mirabelli said. "Then after the first inning, it was dancing all over the place so I felt if we gave him a couple of runs early, we were going to win this game.

"I think it was very important for us to get back at home and get some momentum going our way and playing in front of our home crowd."

The knuckleballer pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out six. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth to pick up his 28th save of the season.

"I told him that was huge not only for himself but for our bullpen, because we ran into our bullpen this past weekend pretty heavy," Papelbon said of Wakefield. "For him to come out here on the first game back on the homestand, it is impressive. Really impressive."

The win did not come easy for the Red Sox as James Shields (9-8) refused to be overshadowed by Wakefield, allowing one run on five hits over six innings. The righthander struck out five without allowing a walk and retired the final eight batters he faced before being lifted in favor of Gary Glover to begin the seventh.

"Sheilds pitched great after getting hit with a line-drive on the first hitter of the game," Devil Rays manager John Maddon said. "He went out in the second inning and you saw a little bit of gesticulations with his arm - but he was fine and he had what, 103 or 104 pitches when we took him out, so that was a pretty good night."

Glover got Alex Cora and Mike Lowell to fly out for the first two outs of the inning, before issuing back-to-back walks to Eric Hinske and Mirabelli. Julio Lugo followed with his third hit of the night, a single that plated Mirabelli, extending the Red Sox lead to 2-0.

"He swung the bat well, he swung the bat very well," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "I think he probably gets a little excited to play these guys, I think most players do against their former friends and teammates."

Boston added an insurance run in the eighth when Lowell singled to center, driving in Manny Ramirez, who reached on a base hit with one out in the frame.

"I was looking at Manny because he got a good jump and as hitter you always appreciate when guys read your ball and not only do you get a hit but you knock in a run," Lowell said. "A two-run difference versus a three-run difference is a little more cushion and any run is big."

The Red Sox opened the scoring in the first inning when David Ortiz's double drove in Lugo, who led off the inning with a single.