In the third inning last night, the Tampa Bay hitters saw beachballs floating toward home plate. Tim Wakefield saw a 1-1 game explode into a 5-1 deficit. Doug Mirabelli saw a knuckleball that kept spinning.

"When it's spinning, it stays in the same spot, and it's hard to get swings and misses," Mirabelli said.

For some reason, the feel that Wakefield has flirted with his entire career -- it comes and goes with no accurate explanation -- had left him entirely. But Mirabelli told his pitcher the view he had of his failing knuckleball, and after a visit to the mound by pitching coach Dave Wallace, Wakefield somehow found his touch again. After walking Jonny Gomes, Wakefield retired the next 16 batters, striking out four in a row over the sixth and seventh innings, going eight to earn the win.

"He really buckled down and knew we needed innings," said manager Terry Francona. "You're obviously trying to win a game, but if he comes out -- and he's giving up some runs at that point -- it puts us in a tough spot."

On a humid night with the wind blowing out over the Wall, it appeared as if Wakefield might be given a quick hook. On his second pitch of the game, Wakefield allowed a home run to Julio Lugo. In the four-run third, when eight Devil Rays strode to the plate, Joey Gathright and Lugo singled before Carl Crawford jerked a first-pitch knuckler into the Red Sox bullpen, giving Tampa Bay a 4-1 lead.

Two batters later, Travis Lee cranked an 0-and-1 knuckler even deeper than Crawford's homer, launching Wakefield's spinner into the bleachers behind the Boston bullpen. Soon after Wakefield (14-10, 4.41 ERA) allowed his league-leading 29th home run of the season, he made his adjustment.

"With the mechanics of throwing a baseball, you want your hand behind it as much as you can," Wakefield said. "I was more around the ball, causing it to spin. It's hard to explain. You have to be able to feel that."

Once Wakefield positioned his hand more directly behind the baseball, his trademark pitch began to dance once more, waving in the wind to mirror the wild swings of the Devil Rays' bats. He got two ground outs in the fourth. Another two ground outs in the fifth. Gomes waved at a 3-and-2 knuckler in the sixth, and Alex Gonzalez, the next batter, stared at a 2-and-2, 79-mile-per-hour fastball. Two more batters went down swinging on knucklers in the seventh, proof that Wakefield's touch had returned, and the ball, instead of spinning out of his hand, sailed toward the plate with the fewest of rotations.

"It doesn't spin at all when it's good," Mirabelli said. "It needs the wind. It needs air pockets behind the ball for it to move like it does. When it's spinning like it was, it's not catching any air."

Wakefield completed his night with an eight-pitch eighth inning, getting Jorge Cantu, the last batter he faced, to ground out to second baseman Alex Cora. Wakefield finished with 102 pitches, allowing six hits and five earned runs, with five strikeouts.

"Wakefield pitched just about how [Curt] Schilling did [Tuesday] night, except he went longer in the ballgame," said Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella. "He gave up runs early and then shut us down."

Wakefield not only got the victory, but he also gave the ragged bullpen corps (other than Mike Timlin, who earned his fourth save of the season) a night off, a goal the knuckleballer had well before the start of last night's game.

"You know what's going on before the game starts," Wakefield said. "You try not to think about it and put that kind of pressure on yourself. Those guys have really done a great job down there. For us to get them a night off except for Mike, I hope that's a good thing."

Wakefield credited his offense for quickly erasing the four-run deficit after the third inning. But Mirabelli, who kicked off the three-run fourth inning with a solo homer to left field, stressed the significance that Wakefield and his starting mates must play for the rest of the regular season.

"We need good starting pitching," Mirabelli said. "We need to get to our guys at the end of the game. We can't expect this team, as good of an offensive team as it is, to battle back from five runs down every time."