Beckett hopeful he won't miss start

It happened on, of all things, a curveball to Kevin Millar.

While throwing the pitch, in the fourth inning, Josh Beckett felt a piece of skin underneath the pad on his right middle finger tear away. He threw eight more pitches in the inning, getting Millar on a pop to Julio Lugo and Jay Gibbons on a grounder to the shortstop, before being taken out of the game, replaced by Kyle Snyder.

"I have had one of these before," Beckett said. "It seems to react a little bit better [than blisters]. There's two things we've got to do, we've got to get it to dry out because you've got fresh skin, then you've got to toughen it up. What the timetable is, I'm not sure what we're looking at. Hopefully I can make my next start, but that's a big hopefully."

On a day when Beckett was attempting to tie the franchise record for wins in consecutive starts to begin the season (eight by Babe Ruth, Dave Ferriss, and Rogelio Moret), he was on the hook for the loss until the Red Sox' six-run ninth.

Though his teammates said they were focused on the game rather than worrying about Beckett, there was some relief that the problem wasn't a recurrence of the blisters that plagued him when he was with the Marlins, and were a threat with the Sox until assistant trainer Mike Reinold determined the source of the trouble was eczema, which was then treated.

"I'm just glad it's not a labrum, an elbow, something like that," catcher Jason Varitek said.

After the curve to Millar, Beckett followed with a fastball that ripped the skin more. He said it was worse than he had initially thought.

"These things, if you don't address them almost immediately, it ends up being a month long deal. It was probably the right thing to do, for [manager Terry Francona] to take me out," he said.

Before being removed, Beckett said he bit a piece of the skin off, but he didn't get enough. He then had the rest of the skin cut off with scissors.

"It's a shame, because he was throwing the ball about as good as you can throw it," Francona said. "Now the good side is because it was a tear, not a blister where there's fraying, it shouldn't get worse. Now we have to let it heal for a couple days, dry it up, let it heal.

"Again, I don't think there's any need to panic or overreact, but I do think we need to use caution, which we will. But we're not going to know for a couple of days how that next start looks. That's probably as honest [an answer] as I can give you."

Manny Ramírez was no longer in the game by the time the comeback came around. Having been seen hobbling a little on a short Millar fly ball, Ramírez was replaced in left by Wily Mo Peña -- not normally a defensive replacement -- heading into the top of the ninth. Peña's single in the ninth extended the rally and sent David Ortiz to third. "That's probably me being overprotective," Francona said. "He got a little tight [in his hamstring]. I don't think it's anything to worry about. We weren't doing much and, again, you're not mailing it in, but it is a long year. I just told him to go ahead and be ready for tomorrow." . . . When Beckett was removed from the game, he was followed by Snyder, Javier Lopez (his third straight appearance since being called up from Pawtucket), Joel Piñeiro, and J.C. Romero. Piñeiro, who pitched 1 2/3 innings, gave up a run in the seventh and one in the eighth. Romero got his first win of the season . . . The last time the Sox came back after trailing by at least five runs in the ninth was April 10, 1998, when Mo Vaughn hit a game-ending grand slam to produce a 9-7 win over the Mariners. Boston started the ninth in that game trailing, 7-2.

Jon Lester threw 40 pitches in a bullpen session before the game, working mostly on his fastball and changeup. He is scheduled to throw his next bullpen Wednesday as he comes back from cramping in his left forearm . . . Mike Lowell was given the day off, after having started 34 of the first 35 games of the season. Kevin Youkilis moved over to third base, with Eric Hinske taking Youkilis's position at first base . . . The Sox' last walkoff victory occurred last Sept. 4, when Carlos Pena hit a solo home run to beat the White Sox, 3-2 . . . It was the third blown save for Chris Ray this season. The last one came when Peña hit a grand slam in the eighth inning of a 5-2 win over the Orioles April 26 . . . The 8 1/3 innings thrown by Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie was a career high . . . Boston is 11-0 in games started by Alex Cora . . . Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada played in his 1,118th consecutive game, passing Billy Williams for fifth on the all-time list. Eighty-nine more games and Tejada will tie Steve Garvey for fourth . . . Pink bats were used by some players to promote breast cancer awareness. According to the media relations staff, the Sox players using the pink bats went 5 for 22 with two walks. Those not using the bats went 2 for 10 with three walks.

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.