There were a lot of empty seats in the Boston bullpen on Sunday afternoon, at least from a figurative standpoint. White-hot closer Jonathan Papelbon had pitched the previous three days and was unavailable. Setup men Keith Foulke (used the past four days) and Mike Timlin (placed on the disabled list before the game) were also out of service, reduced from spikes to sneakers.

What the Red Sox needed was exactly what they got -- a gem from knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in a 5-4 victory over the Devil Rays. As he has had a habit of doing throughout his decade-plus stint with the Red Sox, Wakefield came up big (eight innings, five hits, no runs, one walk, four strikeouts) on a day his team demanded a lot from him.

"He has the ability to throw a lot of pitches and suck up some innings for us -- that's one of the biggest values or assets he has," said catcher Doug Mirabelli. "He can go deep in a game and give that rest [to the bullpen]. His knuckleball is still effective even when he gets tired."

But by the end of the day, Wakefield's strong effort nearly wasn't enough, given the all-too-adventurous ninth inning.

Down by five runs, the Rays came storming back against Rudy Seanez (two-thirds of an inning, three walks, three runs) and Julian Tavarez (one-third of an inning, one hit, one run, two walks).

The last out actually had to come twice. Take one was a strikeout by Greg Norton that wound up scooting by Mirabelli for a passed ball that made it 5-1. Joey Gathright walked to close the gap to three runs. Julio Lugo walked, forcing in another run.

Then the drama reached its pinnacle. With the bases loaded and two outs, Carl Crawford went the other way for a base hit to left, sending Norton home. The speedy Gathright came roaring around third and also tried to score on the play to tie the game. But Willie Harris, playing left field in place of the injured Manny Ramirez, came up quickly and unleashed a strong throw to Mirabelli, who was waiting for Gathright and tagged him out easily to end the game.

There were sighs of relief all around Fenway, as the Sox closed out a four-game sweep over Tampa Bay.

"Oh boy," said manager Terry Francona. "We talk sometimes ... You know that feeling of sitting in the dugout with your stomach in your throat, and you feel like you are going to win, you know you are going to win, you're just not sure how you're going to win. That's the ninth inning right there. Gut-wrenching, but they are playing music down there, so that means we won."

The lyrics of the Standells' "Dirty Water" never sounded so sweet. If it wasn't for Harris making a strong throw to get one of the fastest runners in the game, the music might have been replaced by stunned silence.

"There was a pretty good chance [Gathright] was going to go on a base hit anywhere," said Harris. "That's why I didn't hesitate at all, I just got the ball and threw it in. I had no clue if he was running, I believe I had the ball before he even touched third base. Like I said, you just have to know who your baserunners are and just be ready. I knew right away it was a good throw. I was just glad to see that he kept running."

Though Wakefield was in line for a shutout -- which would have been his first since July 29, 1997 -- he opted not to go back out for the ninth.

"[Francona] asked me if I wanted to go back out there and finish it," said Wakefield. "I had 108 pitches, and I really didn't feel like pushing it any further. It's nice to get a shutout or a complete game, but our team winning game is more important to me. So I told him that I was done."

Wakefield has never been about personal accomplishments, and by the end of the day, he had done exactly what he'd set out to do.

Knowing the situation that the team was in -- the short-handed bullpen, Ramirez missing the game with nagging injuries and Wily Mo Pena going on the DL -- Wakefield took it upon himself to step up.

"There's going to be times in the season where that's going to happen, and we need to step up and pick up the guys who are on the DL right now," said Wakefield. "I think the most important thing is our victories as a team."

Offensively, the Red Sox were productive enough against Devil Rays starter Mark Hendrickson. Trot Nixon worked a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to break a scoreless tie and Mark Loretta cranked an RBI double in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

In the sixth, the Red Sox gave Wakefield some breathing room. Coco Crisp, who was activated before the game and batted leadoff, drove home a run on an infield single. Loretta smashed a two-run single to make it 5-0.

As it turns out, those insurance runs were every bit as big as Wakefield.

"I was praying to get one last out," Wakefield said. "And we were able to do that with a great throw by Willie Harris."