After a game like last night's, Tim Wakefield will just have to be satisfied with the big picture.

Wakefield made a second straight effective start. If he strings together a few more starts like last night's, the wins will come.

The bad news is he once again fell victim to minimal run support. Add a slightly better start from Detroit Tigers counterpart Jeremy Bonderman, and the result was a 6-2 Red Sox loss.

"He's pitching great, but he doesn't have much to show for it," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We didn't help him out."

As is often the case with the knuckleball, Wakefield's mistakes left the park. Marcus Thames tied the game with a solo shot in the second, and Carlos Guillen blasted a two-run homer that proved to be the game-winner in the fourth.

Wakefield didn't budge from there, using a double play and pickoff to escape what could have been a troublesome sixth inning, and stranding Thames at third (double, passed ball) after handling Craig Monroe's comebacker and striking out Chris Shelton to end the seventh.

But the damage had been done.

"I have to make pitches when I need to to keep us in the game," Wakefield said. "I made a mistake to Thames 0-2. I tried to throw a hard one down and left it up. With Guillen, I left one over the middle of the plate. I didn't think he hit it that good, but it went out."

Wakefield threw 100 pitches and left with the Red Sox trailing 3-1. Francona considered sending him back out for the eighth, but said Wakefield had complained of back stiffness and didn't want to risk an injury.

"My arm just got tired after the seventh," Wakefield said. "That's kind of my pitch mark, 100 pitches, and it was a little hot today."

Wakefield has been a hard-luck loser more than once this year. He went 1-4 in April despite a 3.90 ERA, thanks to the offense producing a meager six runs in his five starts. As it is, the Red Sox have scored just 46 runs in his 12 starts, an average of 3.83 a game.

"My job as a starter is to try to keep us in the game as long as I can," Wakefield said. "Unfortunately, I came out on the short end of the stick tonight."