No one has controlled the Devil Rays better than Wakefield and the Red Sox. The knuckleballer celebrated his 38th birthday by limiting Tampa Bay to four hits in seven innings, improving to 10-1 lifetime against the Rays. Wakefield had plenty of reasons to party after the game, surpassing 2,000 innings pitched in his career, moving into third on the team's all-time list for most starts and, more importantly, ending Boston's two-game slide.

"I'm just lucky, I guess," said Wakefield of his mastery of Tampa Bay. "But, it was huge to get a win coming off two losses."

Wakefield's concentration tightened after a rough first inning. He issued a one-out walk to Rocco Baldelli and with his mind still on the runner, left a ball up to Tino Martinez that the Tampa Bay first baseman jacked into the right-field bleachers.

"It's motivating for me," Wakefield said. "It's important to get our offense back in the dugout."

As quickly as Boston fell behind, the Red Sox pounced all over Tampa Bay starter Mark Hendrickson. Manny Ramirez singled through the left side to start the second, and Doug Mirabelli singled, reaching base safely for the 16th straight start, to put two men on with one out. David McCarty jerked Hendrickson's 2-1 offering right out of play, lining the ball over the fence 410 feet away in left-center.

Tampa Bay's only other run came in the fifth when B.J. Upton, making his Major League debut, walked with one out. A Carl Crawford single advanced him to third with a Baldelli groundout bringing him home.

"They have three young horses 9-1-2 who can run," Johnny Damon said. "You pray they hit the ball hard at somebody because if they don't, they'll drive you crazy."

But it's Boston that has Tampa Bay in fits. The Red Sox knocked off Tampa Bay for the sixth time in seven games this year and own a 67-34 edge in the all-time series.

Upton's run was a meaningless tally after Boston knocked around Hendrickson for three more in the fifth. Bill Mueller walked to pick things up and Gabe Kapler singled to raise his average to .275. Damon failed to get a bunt down, but his dribbler back to Hendrickson accomplished the same thing, putting runners in scoring position with just one out. Kevin Youkilis then ripped a two-run double, and Boston sat even prettier when Aubrey Huff couldn't handle Ramirez's grounder at third to score Youkilis for a 6-2 lead.

Huff's error finished Hendrickson and John Webb, making his Major League debut, hit Kevin Millar to put two men on for Mirabelli. The Boston catcher singled to left, but Crawford's throw home arrived well before Ramirez to end the inning.

Webb, Lance Carter and Bobby Seay combined to shut out the Sox from there, allowing just one hit.

The Red Sox relievers were just as effective, even though they didn't need to be, considering the three-run cushion. Alan Embree retired the first two batters in the eighth before giving way to Keith Foulke. The Sox closer registered the last four outs for his 17th save as Boston inched back to nine games out of first place.

"All the games are important," McCarty said. "We need win as many as we can now if we're going to make a big push."