Tim Wakefield No Hit Bid

With one out in the bottom of the 8th, Oakland A's catcher Kurt Suzuki lined a single into left field ending Red Sox starting pitcher Tim Wakefield's no hit bid.

The day started with the Red Sox craving nothing more than quantity and quality from veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Coming off a 12-inning loss Tuesday night that taxed the bullpen, Boston was 2-6, marking its worst start 1996.

But as Wednesday afternoon unfolded, it was nearly a magical day for the 42-year-old Wakefield, who came five outs away from spinning a no-hitter in his 402nd Major League start. Still, Wakefield did what he set out to do, pitching the Red Sox to a badly-needed 8-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Kurt Suzuki smashed a clean single to left with one out in the eighth, ending Wakefield's pursuit of giving the Red Sox no-hitters in three successive seasons. Clay Buchholz accomplished the feat against the Orioles on Sept. 1, 2007. Jon Lester followed suit on May 19 of last season against the Royals.

While those were two examples of young guns making good on their promise, this would have been the case of a trusted veteran reaching a personal pinnacle on a day his team desperately needed it. Boston's bullpen had worked 10 2/3 innings in Tuesday's loss.

"I've taken two or three into the 8th or 9th inning, you know I think you've got to be more lucky than good sometimes," said Wakefield.

"I'm not disappointed," said Wakefield. "It's something that's great to try to get, but the biggest thing today was to try to preserve the bullpen going into the off-day tomorrow, and hopefully we can get a streak going."

Wakefield didn't merely preserve his bullpen. He gave them an entire day off. By going the distance, Wakefield became the oldest pitcher in Red Sox history to pitch a complete game. He gave up four hits and two runs, walking two, striking out four and throwing 111 pitches.

The near miss brought back memories of Curt Schilling having his no-hit bid snapped with two outs in the ninth inning at Oakland on June 7, 2007. In that case, Schilling had snapped a four-game losing streak for his team.

"I thought about that a little bit," said Wakefield. "Again, it would have been nice to have the no-no. I've taken two or three into the eighth or ninth inning. You've got to be more lucky than good sometimes in that aspect. It didn't happen, but I'm pleased that I was able to save the bullpen today."

Back on June 19, 2001, Wakefield had a no-hitter against the Rays broken up with one out it in the ninth.

But none of that mattered to Wakefield, who was determined to help end a stretch during which the Red Sox lost six out of seven.

Wakefield has been with the Red Sox since 1995, longer than any other member of the team. It was win No. 179 of Wakefield's career.

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