It's not surprising, then, that when Tim Wakefield has a subpar outing, his struggles can often be traced to what he does best.

That was certainly the case on Saturday afternoon, when he gave up eight runs on eight hits and two walks over six-plus innings as the Red Sox fell to the Rangers, 8-6, at Fenway Park, ending their 10-game winning streak, their 11-game home winning streak and Wakefield's own personal three-game winning streak.

Five of the runs came on home runs over the Green Monster -- a two-run shot by Rod Barajas in the fourth and a three-run blast by Michael Young, a .176 hitter off Wakefield in his career to that point, in the seventh. Both pitches were knuckleballs.

"His knuckleball is what gets him out of innings and gets him into other -- if it's not working right -- into bad innings," catcher Doug Mirabelli said.

Wakefield entered the game holding opponents to a .183 average in two-strike counts. But he hit Brian Jordan with runners at the corners on a 1-2 pitch in the second, loading the bases in what became a three-run inning that included a 1-2 RBI grounder by Laynce Nix and an 0-2 RBI single by Barajas.

Then, in the fourth, Wakefield brought the count full on Kevin Mench, but walked him with one out. Mench scored on Barajas' homer -- hit on an 0-2 pitch.

Barajas' round tripper also came with two outs; opponents had entered Saturday hitting .184 off Wakefield with runners in scoring position -- Mench had moved to second on Nix's grounder to first -- and two outs.

Young's homer came after Barajas had singled on a ground ball third baseman Bill Mueller couldn't bare-hand and Eric Young had walked to lead off the seventh. Red Sox manager Terry Francona contemplated pulling Wakefield, but, again, the nature of the knuckleball confounded the issue.

"You see a guy like Pedro [Martinez] or [Curt Schilling], they lose their fastball, they're out," Francona said. "Wake can find it, lose it, find it so fast."

"And the runs sometimes he gives up happen quickly. It's a walk, an infield hit and then the ball goes out of the ballpark," Francona added. "He's been so good for so long, and this year that I think one of the worst things that I can do is not be patient enough, because he does find it so often and he's so successful."

"His margin of error sometimes is smaller that other guys' and when he does make a bad pitch, they capitalize on it," Mirabelli said.

"It was just one of those days where I felt like I got in trouble early. In the seventh inning, I got in trouble early and I just couldn't get myself out of it," Wakefield said. "I was trying to get a ground ball there and I left it up. He hit it out."

With the knuckleball, that will happen. But more often that not with Wakefield's knuckleball, it doesn't. Instead, the pitch behaves, working as he intends. But inevitably, there are outings like Saturday. It's just the nature of the pitch, maddening as it may be.