Walk on the wild side

When the Detroit Tigers visited Fenway Park last month, center fielder Curtis Granderson said his perception of how a knuckleball pitcher performs simply depends on the day.

"It's kind of like a guy playing basketball," he said, "he can either be on or off."

Last night against the New York Yankees, Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield was off -- way off.

The veteran righthander lasted a season-low 3 2/3 innings, gave up a season-high eight runs (all earned), walked six, hit a batter, allowed five hits, including a homer to Robinson Cano, threw a wild pitch, and struck out two.

He threw 81 pitches, only 38 for strikes, as he absorbed the 9-5 loss at Fenway. In his last four starts, Wakefield (5-6) is a troubling 1-3. It marked his shortest outing since he lasted 3 1/3 innings Sept. 19, 2006, against Minnesota.

Wakefield has been struggling, particularly against the Yankees. He has lost all three starts against them this year, earning a bloated 10.93 earned run average, and is 1-8 with a 6.82 ERA in his last 10 starts against the Bronx Bombers. Eighteen of his 32 walks this season have come against them.

"I just didn't have it tonight," acknowledged Wakefield. "I felt good in the first, I got through there 1, 2, 3, and in the second, I didn't feel comfortable and I never could find any rhythm. It was a 1-2-3 third, and in the fourth I was all over the place. I couldn't throw strikes. I pretty much stunk it up tonight. I'm embarrassed about it and I'm disappointed in my outing. I have to work hard the next four days, come out in Oakland and hopefully I can improve on tonight."

In the second, Wakefield walked Alex Rodriguez and, with one out and ahead in the count, 1 and 2, Cano hit a home run to right field to make it 2-0. After a double and two walks to load the bases, Wakefield gave a free pass to Johnny Damon, which plated the Yankees' third run.

In New York's six-run fourth, Wakefield's control collapsed and he was lifted for righthander Kyle Snyder. He was charged with five runs in the inning. The eight runs allowed were the most by a Sox starter since Josh Beckett Sept. 27, 2006, against Tampa Bay and the first time Wakefield has done it since Sept. 20, 2004, against Baltimore.

"It happened to be a team where I don't have a good feel for it," said Wakefield. "I don't have a problem facing them even though they have a great lineup over there. I faced Toronto and they've got a good lineup, too. Detroit has a good lineup. I've got to pitch better than I did tonight."

His inning total brought Wakefield to 2,500 for his career, but he wasn't interested in milestones. He said he has no theories as to why he couldn't put the ball over the plate against the Yankees.

"If I knew what the problem was, I wouldn't be doing it," he said. "It's one of those things that's frustrating for me, too. I can't seem to find it right now but it's not going to keep me from going out there every five days and pitching. I've had stretches like this in my career and it's one of those nights when things didn't go my way. I wasn't as effective as I would've liked to have been and when you give a team like that too many chances, they're going to hurt you."

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at Marrapese@globe.com.