The last thing the Red Sox wanted to do was supply a jolt to one of the least prolific offenses in the game. But that is precisely what occurred on Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park, as the Dodgers socked it to the Sox in a 14-5 romp.

This was no gradual blowout. Heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Sox were staring at a 12-2 deficit.

The good news? The Sox send ace Pedro Martinez to the mound on Sunday night, looking to erase the sour taste of this defeat.

There was another intriguing development as well. The Sox first baseman-outfielder David McCarty was used in relief for the second time this season. McCarty fared far better than he did in the home opener, this time working a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

McCarty first entered the game in left field, taking Manny Ramirez's spot in the top of the seventh.

The Sox just hoped the rest of their pitchers fared as well as left-hander McCarty.

Veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield turned in his worst performance of the season, giving up 10 hits and eight earned runs over 4 1/3 innings. Relievers Anastacio Martinez and Mark Malaska couldn't stop the Dodgers either.

Wakefield is in a bit of a rut, giving up 29 hits and 17 earned runs over his last three starts. In that span, his ERA has gone from 3.21 to 4.46.

"Things [aren't] going my way right now," Wakefield said. "I don't know what the answers are. I'm not feeling very comfortable with the ball in my hand as far as my grip. Obviously the ball is not moving the way it's supposed to so I have to try to keep working it out.

"I go through streaks this like that during the course of a year. I've had a couple of bad starts in a row. [I'll] try to work through it and once something clicks I'll feel better."

Wakefield was making his first start in eight days because manager Terry Francona realigned the rotation in order to avoid pitching the knuckleballer at Coors Field this week. He did pitch one inning out of the bullpen on Wednesday. Did the tinkering of his schedule affect his performance?

"I don't know," said Wakefield. "I don't think so."

The Sox simply didn't see this one coming. After all, the Dodgers entered the game 27th in Major League Baseball in runs scored.

By the end of the day, they looked like a reincarnation of Murderers' Row, putting up a season-high in runs.

With the loss, the Sox fell 3 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the AL East.

Early on, it looked like there were endless possibilities for the Sox as Dodgers starter Jeff Weaver did not look sharp. In fact, Waver had a control meltdown in the bottom of the third, walking three and hitting a batter. But the Sox could only get two runs in the inning.

"We had Weaver on the ropes," said Francona. "He looked like he was a hitter or two from coming out of the game and then it just completely snowballed on us."

It was more like an avalanche, as the Dodgers went on the attack.

The Dodgers got four runs in the top of the fourth against Wakefield. Juan Encarnacion got things going by pummeling a one-out solo shot over the Monster seats. After an RBI double by Cesar Izturis gave the Dodgers the lead for good, Jayson Werth launched a two-run homer to left.

The rocky fourth was nothing compared to the disastrous fifth. With the bases loaded and one out, Wakefield was lifted in favor of Martinez. However, things only got worse with the rookie right-hander on the mound.

"Sometimes you have a game where everything goes wrong, you're in the fourth inning, you're not going to [Alan] Embree, [Mike] Timlin and [Keith] Foulke. Using younger kids, sometimes things like this happen," said Francona.

The Sox did get one of their veteran relievers in there, as Scott Williamson, who came off the disabled list on Friday, made his first appearance since May 18.

Williamson struck out the side in the eighth after giving up a leadoff single.