Angels Knuckle Under to Resurgent Wakefield : Baseball: Red Sox, down three starters because of injury, get strong performance from pitcher who was released by Pittsburgh this spring.

Those weren’t bullets--silver or otherwise--that the Angels were flailing at Saturday night, but the Red Sox can give thanks they made a deal with an all-female pro baseball team to work out at their Fort Myers, Fla., training camp this spring.

The manager and pitching coach of the Colorado Silver Bullets are Phil and Joe Niekro, a couple of guys who know a little bit about the knuckleball. And it just so happened that Boston had acquired the services of a flutterball specialist who had lost his way.

Tim Wakefield was named the National League’s Rookie Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News in 1992 after compiling an 8-1 record with Pittsburgh. His two complete-game victories in the ’92 National League Championship Series ties him for the league’s career record.

But Wakefield struggled to a 6-11 record in 1993 and spent all of ’94 in the minor leagues. His performance last year in double-A Buffalo didn’t exactly wow the folks in the Pirates’ front office. He led the American Assn. in losses (15), hits (197), runs (127), earned runs (114) and walks (98).

To no one’s surprise, Pittsburgh released him this spring.

The Red Sox, obviously in dire need of starting pitching, took a shot and signed Wakefield to a minor-league contract. Part of the deal included an agreement that he would spend some time in extended spring training working with the Niekro brothers.

“I worked with both of them, Phil more than Joe,” Wakefield said. “They helped me a lot, but it was much more mental than mechanical. They told me to stop being tentative, to stop trying to aim it. You just throw it and let it do its thing.”

Clearly, Wakefield’s knuckler did its thing to the Angels Saturday night. His 60-mile-per-hour deliveries floated and befuddled for seven innings and by the time he left, Boston was cruising toward a 12-1 victory at Anaheim Stadium.

It was his first victory in the big leagues since the last time he pitched in the majors, Sept. 30, 1993, against Philadelphia.

“This was a big boost of confidence for me tonight,” he said, smiling.

Also smiling was Boston Manager Kevin Kennedy, who has had to rethink his starting rotation on almost a daily basis.

“With [Aaron] Sele, [Vaughn] Eshelman and [Roger] Clemens out, this was a huge plus for us,” Kennedy said. “The only reason I took him out was that we have nobody to pitch Tuesday and I was thinking about bringing him back on two days rest.”

That would suit Wakefield just fine. He threw only 91 pitches Saturday night, gave up five hits, struck out four and walked two. Both walks came in the first inning when the Angels scored a run on a single by J.T. Snow. After Snow’s hit, Wakefield retired 10 in a row before Andy Allanson singled to right leading off the fifth.

“I was a little jittery in the first, but I felt really comfortable after that,” he said. “All those runs made it a lot easier.

“It’s always satisfying to do well, but this is a very good feeling after everything I’ve been through the past year or so.”

It was a big night for a lot of the Red Sox, including catcher Mike MacFarlane, who had never caught a knuckleball pitcher before.

“It was mentally exhausting,” he said. “I felt like I caught a doubleheader.”