He provided feel-good story

Red Sox medical director Bill Morgan said Wednesday that if Tim Wakefield was still feeling the effects of the line drive he took in the back of his right shoulder last Saturday in Anaheim, Calif., it would be obvious.

"He'll probably have limited motion and discomfort," Morgan said after clearing Wakefield to pitch. "If the discomfort clouds his performance, it will be apparent."

But the only thing apparent last night was that Wakefield looked as if he hadn't been injured at all.

The veteran knuckleballer threw seven shutout innings to help the Sox to a much-needed 4-0 victory over Baltimore in the second game of a day-night doubleheader.

"That was awesome," Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We needed this like you can't believe. I know he didn't feel that good."

Wakefield's strong outing came with the Sox needing a victory to avoid a sweep to the Orioles and with the worn-out bullpen still needing a quality start to buy some precious rest.

"I felt OK. I felt good enough," said Wakefield, who scattered eight hits while striking out four. "I felt a lot better today than I did last week."

In his start last Saturday, Wakefield allowed five runs before a Jose Molina liner struck his shoulder, forcing him to leave after the fourth inning of an 8-3 loss to the Angels.

Wakefield didn't pick up a baseball Sunday and played catch through some soreness Monday. He threw on the side Tuesday, a day later than his regular routine.

But by the time he took the mound last night, Wakefield said his range of motion was full, though some pain remained.

"The training staff did a great job getting me ready to pitch," said Wakefield, who improved to 6-6.

Catcher Doug Mirabelli said Wakefield didn't show any ill effects from the injury.

"The way he was throwing it, I couldn't tell that he was hurt," Mirabelli said. "His arm speed looked good, and that was huge. People think you just lob [the knuckleball] out, but it takes a lot of arm speed to throw it out there without rotation."

Wakefield's only real trouble came in the first inning, when he faced Melvin Mora with no outs and runners on first and third. Mora lifted a fly to left that was caught by David McCarty. When Brian Roberts tried to tag up and score from third, McCarty fired a one-hop strike to the plate.

"He made a perfect throw to home to get us two outs there," Wakefield said.

Wakefield didn't run into another threat until the fifth inning when, with one out, Larry Bigbie and Robert Machado reached on back-to-back infield singles.

But Wakefield got Roberts to fly out to left and David Newhan to dribble a grounder back to the mound to end the inning.

"He was very sharp, his arm was loose," Mirabelli said. "That was a great ballgame . . . a gutsy performance."

Between innings, Wakefield said he took extra care to keep his shoulder feeling good.

"I tried to stay as warm as I could," he said. "I tried to keep walking around, tried to keep the blood flowing."

The blood was flowing well enough for Wakefield to limit even those Orioles with previous success against him.

Mora, who entered the game batting .375 (6 for 16) against Wakefield, went 0 for 3 against him. Catcher Javy Lopez also came in hitting .375 (3 for 8) against Wakefield, but went 0 for 3 against the veteran.

The victory was just Wakefield's second in his last 10 starts. He also continued his run of sharp command by allowing no walks. He has walked only six batters in his last 38 innings, a span of six starts. "When he throws strikes, that's the kind of game you expect from him," Mirabelli said.