Those who insist that the complete game is not a relevant statistic may want to check with Tim Wakefield.

Mr. Innings Eater was at it again last night, going nine innings in a 3-2 Red Sox win over the Athletics.

Over his last four appearances, Wakefield has averaged 8 1/2 innings pitched, including last weekend's complete-game performance against the Yankees. The down side? He's only won twice. Last night's victory went to closer Mike Timlin, who pitched a scoreless 10th.

Although Wakefield has only given up an average of 1.6 runs in his last three starts, the run support hasn't been there.

Still, the numbers worked for the knuckleballer last night.

The nine-inning stint gave him 205 2/3 innings pitched for the season, his most since recording 216 in 1998. In Wakefield's book, that's a significant accomplishment.

"Every year, one of my goals is 200 innings, and I accomplished that tonight with three outs left," he said.

"I'm proud of that. It was just one of my goals as a young player, and I've always aimed for that."

Once the game headed into the 10th inning, Wakefield was prepared to head to the mound yet again. That's when Sox manager Terry Francona decided to intervene.

"I felt better as the game went on," Wakefield said. "I told Terry after the ninth that I had enough left in my tank to go back out there again. But he decided that it was enough."

Wakefield had thrown 112 pitches to that point.

"What a pro," Francona said.

"He had an hour-and-47-minute rain delay to wait through. That's not easy for these guys. Same for their guys. He handled it. He went out and just pitched so well. He had one walk tonight. I don't know if he walked a guy the last time. He throws the ball and attacks the strike zone with that knuckleball. He's been terrific.

"He could have gone out there again, and he said he could have. I just didn't think it was the correct thing to do."