Starter David Wells' bubble is burst by the Orioles, and the lefty also suffers a sprained right foot.

09:13 AM EDT on Tuesday, April 26, 2005

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- The feel-good ride of David Wells as a Red Sox pitcher ran off its tracks last night at Fenway Park.

Wells, who shook off two shaky early-season losses and threw 15 scoreless innings in his last two starts, not only saw that string end, but also left last night's 8-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles nursing a sprained right foot. The Red Sox weren't sure of the severity of the big lefty's injury, but were concerned enough to send Wells from the park to Beth Israel Hospital during the game to be evaluated. The Sox listed Wells as day-to-day, and should know the test results today.

Wells, who turns 42 next month, was battered by the Orioles even before he hurt his foot. He allowed three runs in the first two innings, and when Baltimore scored three more times in the fourth, Wells' shortest outing of season (3 2/3 innings) was complete. He allowed six runs on eight hits and fell to 2-3 for the season.

As he left the mound with Boston trailing, 6-2, Wells was limping noticeably. He grabbed the roof of the Red Sox' dugout as he gingerly walked down the steps and out of sight.

"He looked uncomfortable. I agree," said manager Terry Francona. "He wanted to walk it off. Guys like that just don't come out of games that quickly or you don't survive."

The injury was one of two to the now-limping Red Sox' pitching staff. Reliever Matt Mantei stepped in a small hole while running to back up a play at third base and fell to the ground. He left the game with a left ankle sprain but said later he felt fine. However, with Curt Schilling still rounding into form, Wade Miller working through arm trouble in the minors and now some question about Wells' status, the health of the Sox' pitchers was the dominant concern in the clubhouse after last night's loss.

"Our pitching staff is pretty banged up," said Johnny Damon. "That's definitely not good for us."

Catcher Jason Varitek said he noticed Wells pull up after a pitch to Javy Lopez to open the fourth inning. Varitek, Francona and Chris Corrente of the medical staff came to the mound, and Wells was hurting. After a short moment, Wells remained in the game.

AP photo

After two stellar starts, David Wells couldn't deliver last night against the Orioles. He struggled early before leaving the game with a sprained right foot.

"It was stinging him pretty good, but he wanted the sting to go away and he kept at it," said Varitek.

Francona said he was convinced Wells could keep pitching. "He wanted a second to try to get it to settle down. He threw a pitch or two and he was ready to go," said Francona.

Unfortunately for the Sox, the next pitch was smacked down into the first few rows of the right-field corner for a two-run homer by B.J. Surhoff. The blast gave the Orioles a 5-2 lead, and when the Orioles scored again on two singles and a groundout, Wells' time was up.

"That ball was up," Varitek said of the Surhoff home run. "(Wells) got the ball up in situations he didn't want to tonight."

It didn't take long for Wells' 15-inning scoreless streak to come to an end. Brian Roberts lined the lefty's first pitch to center field for a single and stole second on the game's second offering. Melvin Mora tried three times to bunt Roberts to third but failed, striking out in the process. With Miguel Tejada up, Roberts stole third. A Tejada groundout to short easily pushed Roberts across with the game's first run. It also was the first run scored by a Boston opponent in the first inning this season.

The Red Sox bounced right back with two first-inning runs of their own off lefty Bruce Chen (2-1). Damon led off with a walk, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on an Edgar Renteria single. Singles by David Ortiz and Kevin Millar pushed Renteria around and the Sox led, 2-1.

Citing some tired legs and creaky bodies, Francona scrawled out a risky defensive lineup that included Ortiz at first base and Millar in left field. That look sprung a leak in the Orioles' second. Wells gave up a leadoff walk to Lopez and Surhoff followed with a single to left. Luis Matos laced a Wall double that scored Lopez and put runners on second and third. Wells buckled down and struck out Chris Gomez, and also got Geronimo Gill to ground to Ortiz at first. But the ball handcuffed Ortiz for an error and Surhoff skipped home with another run and a 3-2 Orioles lead.

The top of the fourth proved to be Wells' undoing. Lopez led off with a soft chopper to the pitcher's right, but when he pulled up after just two steps off the mound, the Sox knew something was wrong. After the conference at the mound, Wells clearly wasn't fine. Surhoff delivered the game's biggest blow with his two-run homer, and when Wells walked to the dugout behind, 6-2, the score was clearly not the Red Sox' biggest concern.

Baltimore stretched its lead to 7-2 with a run in the sixth, and the solid pitching of Chen and Todd Williams kept Boston's bats in check. A one-out homer by Varitek off Chen in the sixth over the Monster Seats in left sliced the lead to 7-3, but the Sox couldn't do much else.