There was a reason the Red Sox dealt for Doug Mirabelli and hastily flew him across the country to play in a game against the Yankees on May 1. Passed balls were spoiling the starts of Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

Mirabelli had been Wakefield's personal catcher for the better part of the last four years. The catcher had only six passed balls the entire 2005 season and Josh Bard, who replaced him, had 10 after only five games.

But the passed ball bug may be contagious. In the sixth inning last night Mirabelli was charged with three of them as the Yankees scored a run without a hit while the Sox needed four outs to get out of the inning.

Wakefield struck out Alex Rodriguez, but reached first when the third strike got past Mirabelli. Rodriguez took second on another and scored on the third.

"It's not my first passed ball and it's not going to be my last," Mirabelli said. "It's a built-in factor: there's just times when the knuckleball is too good to catch.

"I've always said it's a two-edged sword. When he throws a really, really, really good knuckleball like he was throwing in that inning, they can't hit it, but unfortunately I can't catch it, too."

Wakefield allowed seven runs on six hits and five walks over 6 2/3 innings. In the critical seventh inning, he recorded two quick outs before everything spun out of control. He threw 10 straight balls - walking Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield - and then got drilled for a three-run homer by Rodriguez.

"When you see balls go by Dougie, (Wakefield's) ball is moving pretty good," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "He'll bounce back. If he can't catch it, nobody can."