Wakefield baffles Devil Rays again

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Tim Wakefield doesn’t waste time wondering why he succeeds indoors against Tampa Bay. The knuckleballer is just happy the trend continued Monday night.

Wakefield again was masterful against Tampa Bay, giving up only four hits over seven innings as the Boston Red Sox blanked the Devil Rays, 6-0.

“The ball seems to move a little more inside,” Wakefield said. “I don’t care to know why. I just know that it does.”

Wakefield improved to 19-2 -- including a 9-0 mark at Tropicana Field -- all-time against the Devil Rays. It’s the most wins by any Tampa Bay opponent.

Wakefield (15-10) struck out five, walked one and moved into a tie for the major league lead in wins this season. Wakefield has not allowed a run in 15 consecutive innings. He has also blanked Tampa Bay 19 innings in a row.

“He knows what he’s doing with it,” Tampa Bay left fielder Carl Crawford said. “If I move up, I noticed he throws a different kind of pitch.

“When I moved back, he threw a certain kind of way. He ain’t just throwing down the middle.”

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RESULTS

at Chicago 4, Kansas City 3: Bobby Jenks settled for a share of the record when Joey Gathright broke the White Sox closer’s string of 41 straight outs, and then stopped Chicago’s worst losing streak since 1991 at eight games. Jenks, who tied Jim Barr’s mark of 41 for San Francisco in 1972, responded by retiring the next three batters for his 34th save in 39 chances.

Seattle 9, at Minnesota 4: Raul Ibanez homered twice and drove in three runs to lead the Mariners to their fourth straight victory. Richie Sexson and Kenji Johjima also homered for the Mariners, who have won seven of nine to improve to a season-high 18 games over .500. The Mariners chased Minnesota starter Matt Garza (2-4) in the third inning. He was charged with seven runs and nine hits, recording only seven outs.

Oakland 6, at Toronto 4: Jack Hannahan hit his first major league home run and Joe Blanton (11-8) remained unbeaten in August for the A’s. Nick Swisher also homered for Oakland, which has won six of eight. Swisher singled twice and went three for four. Blanton allowed one run and six hits over seven innings, walking none and striking out six to improve to 3-0 with a 3.96 earned-run average in four August starts.

Boston 6, Tampa Bay 0: The Red Sox’s David Ortiz, hitting .147 (five for 34, one homer) against Scott Kazmir, didn’t play.

Texas at Baltimore, ppd. rain: The game will be made up Wednesday as the opener of a doubleheader.

at Angels 7, New York 6 (10 innings): The Yankees’ three-game winning streak ended in the opener of the series.