AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Red Sox’s Wakefield Flirts With No-Hitter

The only butterflies were the ones knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was floating toward home plate. There were none in his stomach as he tried for the Boston Red Sox’s first no-hitter in 30 years.

Wakefield pitched 7 1/3 innings of hitless ball and finished with a three-hitter as the Red Sox defeated the Oakland Athletics, 4-1, Friday night at Boston.

Asked if he was nervous as the game progressed, Wakefield said, “Not at all. I was just trying my best to preserve a victory.”

Wakefield was discarded by the Pittsburgh Pirates in spring training and signed by the Red Sox the last week in April. The Red Sox outbid Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas City and Milwaukee for his services.

Wakefield joined the Red Sox on May 27, and has been fantastic in his 14 days with the team. He is 4-0 with a 0.54 ERA, allowing only two earned runs, and has pitched two complete games in a row.

“He’s a battler. He’s a competitor,” Boston catcher Mike Macfarlane said. “He doesn’t back off from anybody. He has confidence in his knuckleball.”

He also has control, the key to the success of a pitch that repeatedly changes direction as it heads toward the batter. He has walked just seven batters in 32 1/3 innings with the Red Sox.

“He has a big advantage because he is the only knuckleball pitcher in the league,” Oakland Manager Tony LaRussa said, “but if it was easy to throw a knuckler, more guys would do it.”

Said Oakland’s Mark McGwire, “Try to catch a butterfly in the field. That’s what trying to hit a knuckleball is like.”

Wakefield, trying to pitch the first no-hitter for the Red Sox and the first at Fenway Park since Dave Morehead on Sept. 16, 1965, against Cleveland, lost his bid when Stan Javier lined a clean single to center field.

Javier is the son of former Cardinal second baseman Julian Javier, whose double with two outs in the eighth inning in Game 2 of the 1967 World Series broke up Jim Lonborg’s no-hitter at Fenway Park.

“I’m not happy,” Javier said. “I broke up the no-hitter, but what’s the difference? We lost the game.”

Said Wakefield, “When Javier got the hit and I got a standing ovation, it was something special. I just took my time and said, it’s over with now, the pressure’s off.”

Rickey Henderson hit an RBI single in the eighth for Oakland. Terry Steinbach doubled with two outs in the ninth for the A’s.

Wakefield, who had a perfect game through 5 2/3 innings, struck out five and walked two.

Wakefield retired the first 17 batters before Mike Bordick walked on a 3-2 count. Henderson then was hit in the lower back by a pitch before Geronimo Berroa ended the inning with a routine fly.

Wakefield burst onto the scene in 1992 when he was 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA with the Pirates and was 2-0 in the National League playoffs against Atlanta.

But he was 6-11 with the Pirates in 1993 and was 5-15 with a 5.84 ERA with triple-A Buffalo in 1994.

Texas 6, Chicago 1--Juan Gonzalez hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the first inning at Arlington, Tex., as the Rangers notched their eighth victory in 10 games.

Gonzalez, the AL home run champion in 1992 and 1993, missed 35 of Texas’ first 41 games because of back problems.

Cleveland 7, Milwaukee 4--Kenny Lofton had three hits and scored four times and Carlos Baerga hit a three-run homer at Milwaukee as the Indians won their seventh in a row and for the 12th time in 13 games.

Seattle 11, New York 1--Tino Martinez homered and drove in four runs for the Mariners at New York. Tim Belcher (3-0) extended his scoreless inning streak to 14 before allowing Paul O’Neill’s run-scoring single in the sixth. He gave up six hits in seven innings.

Detroit 6, Minnesota 5--Reliever Rick Aguilera’s wide throw to the plate set a two-run rally in the eighth inning at Minneapolis that lifted the Tigers over the Twins.

Cecil Fielder singled to lead off the inning and Alan Trammell doubled before Aguilera’s throw allowed pinch-runner Danny Bautista to score. Todd Steverson followed with a sacrifice fly.