Doug Mirabelli's three-run homer gives Boston the lead, and reliever Mike Timlin pitches out of a sixth-inning jam, sparking a win over Toronto.

08:01 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 25, 2004

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

AP photo Boston's Doug Mirabelli, right, is congratulated by teammates after they beat Toronto, 5-4, last night. Mirabelli hit a three-run home run for the Sox in the sixth inning.

TORONTO -- The Boston Red Sox' boxscore contains a couple of misleading notations this morning.

The "W" is placed next to Tim Wakefield's name, the win raising his record to 10-7. The "S" is placed next to Keith Foulke's name, accounting for his 23rd save.

But Mike Timlin was the reason the Red Sox were able to hold off the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4, last night at SkyDome.

He saved Wakefield's bacon, working out of a bases-loaded, none-out mountain of trouble with the Sox clinging to a two-run lead in the sixth inning, an advantage provided on Doug Mirabelli's three-run homer in the top of the inning.

All Timlin did was blow away the first three hitters in the Blue Jays' lineup. He fanned Reed Johnson. He fanned Orlando Hudson. And, with the multitudes of Red Sox' fans in the crowd of 22,217 standing and cheering his efforts, making it sound like a home game at Fenway Park, Timlin got Alex Rios

to bounce into an inning-ending forceout at second base.

Timlin punched the air in triumph with his right fist, the adrenaline coursing through his body after he kept the score at 5-3 for Boston.

And though Timlin was touched up for a run in the seventh, don't let his line in the boxscore fool you. The veteran right-hander won the game for the Sox last night.

No one could have expected him to emerge unscathed from that sixth-inning jam.

"You would hope for what he did, but that would be a reach," said manager Terry Francona. "At that point, you'd exchange an out for a run, maybe on a sacrifice fly. Even better than what he did was the way he threw the ball. He threw as good as I've seen throw all year. What he did under those circumstances was incredible."

Wakefield certainly was appreciative.

"Mike Timlin deserved that win, not me. He did a great job," said Wakefield, who struggled in his five-plus innings.

Timlin did even a better job than he could have hoped for.

"In that situation I'm trying to get a double play, giving up one run because then we'd still have a one-run lead, and then preserve it," said Timlin. "If I could do that, that's a real good job.

"Once you get the first out, now you're trying to get the double play to get out of the inning without anyone scoring," added Timlin. "And once you get the second guy out, you don't want to let up. Sometimes pitchers and hitters, you gain the advantage, you take a deep breath. I wanted to keep that edge going a little bit.

"It would have been nice to strike out the side, but it didn't happen that way," said Timlin.

As it happened, the Red Sox won for the fourth time in five games on this trip, with only tonight's game against the Blue Jays remaining. And the Sox, who are 13-4 over their last 17 games, now have gotten through two of the four games they must play without regular catcher Jason Varitek, who is sitting out his four-game suspension.

Mirabelli would have caught last night, anyway, because he always catches Wakefield's starts. But Mirabelli contributed the biggest offensive blow of the game, his three-run missile to left off Miguel Batista in the sixth that transformed a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 advantage.

"I was just trying to put a good swing on it," said Mirabelli. "He throws hard. I was trying to get a ball down and catch up to it and put a good swing on it."

Up until that point, Mirabelli's homer was one of the few things the Red Sox had done well. It was one of the sloppier games the Red Sox have played in a long time.

They were charged with one error, when a disgusted Wakefield swatted at a ball that had been thrown back to him after a base hit in the fourth and it rolled away from him, permitting alert Toronto baserunner Gregg Zaun to race from second to third.

One of Wakefield's dancing knucklers got past Mirabelli for a run in the second. Center fielder Johnny Damon misplayed a leadoff liner by Frank Menechino into a triple that led to a run in the fourth.

First baseman Kevin Millar was unable to field a potential double-play bouncer by Gabe Gross in the sixth. The play initially was ruled an error, but was changed to a base hit.

Offensively, the Red Sox picked up where they had left off the night before, which is to say their bats still hadn't cleared customs. Boston, which was blanked on three hits Monday night by Ted Lilly, was shut out on four hits through four innings last night by Batista.

Despite the fact they weren't clicking on all cylinders, it was only a 3-0 deficit because Wakefield squirmed out of a second-and-third, none-out jam in the second and surrendered only one run on four hits in the fourth.

Not surprisingly, it was Manny Ramirez who gave Boston's offense the jump-start it needed. Ramirez ripped a two-run single to right-center off Batista in the fifth, cutting the Sox' deficit to 3-2. Mirabelli's rocket put Boston ahead, 5-3.

And Timlin, with backup help from Ramiro Mendoza and Foulke, made the homer stand up.