This pitching duel isn’t built on speed

CLEVELAND -- Put the speed guns away. They won’t be necessary tonight when Cleveland Indians veteran Paul Byrd faces knuckleball-throwing Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, except to see whether their fastballs would get freeway speeding tickets.

“This may be the slowest-throwing right-handed matchup of all time in the postseason,” Byrd said Monday, the interview room in Jacobs Field erupting in laughter. “It’ll be fun to lock horns with Tim.”

What Byrd lacks in power he makes up for in precision and, the former Angels pitcher hopes, deception.

Five years ago, when his fastball deserted him after shoulder surgery, Byrd developed the funky delivery he still uses today, an old-school motion in which he flips both his ball hand and glove hand far behind his back before starting his windup in an effort to hide the ball as long as possible.

“I was throwing 81 mph, and I needed to do something to shake it up and be deceptive,” Byrd said. “So I started swinging my arms kind of as a trial-and-error thing out on a back mound [at spring training with the Kansas City Royals] in 2002. Next day, I took that into batting practice.

“Hitters said they didn’t like it at all, they couldn’t pick up the ball. . . . Carlos Beltran said, ‘Hey, you may want to stick with that. It’s really hard to pick up the ball.’ . . . I thought, maybe I’m onto something here, and the motion and delivery gave me a little momentum. It’s helped me through the years to be deceptive and is kind of a neat way to stay in the game, by doing something totally different.”

Byrd’s fastball tops out at about 87 mph, but he has a variety of breaking balls and off-speed pitches and excellent control -- he was 15-8 with a 4.59 earned-run average this season, striking out 88 and walking only 28 in 192 1/3 innings.

Byrd’s track record, along with his mental toughness, convinced Manager Eric Wedge to stick with the right-hander for Game 4 of the division series in Yankee Stadium instead of C.C. Sabathia on short rest.

Byrd gave up two runs and eight hits in five innings, earning the win in Cleveland’s 6-4, series-clinching victory.

Wakefield, who sat out the division series because of a back injury, will make his first start since Sept. 29. Though he was 17-12 with a 4.76 ERA in 31 starts this season, it’s always stressful for Manager Terry Francona to watch the 41-year-old Wakefield float his knuckleballs to the plate.

“He’s such a good pitcher and he’s been good for a long time, but I think I learned real quick, sometimes, to take both your hands, put them underneath you and sit there,” Francona said.

“Because of the way he pitches, if you don’t do that it can drive you a little crazy. There’s going to be stolen bases, there’s going to be some walks. At the same time, if you’re patient enough to let him pitch, and he’s pitching well, he won 17 games. But it’s very difficult.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com