KANSAS CITY — Despite his nightmarish September, there are no plans to give struggling reliever Manny Delcarmen any time away from the mound to help his confidence or give him time to rebuild his imperfect mechanics.

"We want him to pitch well. He's not going to pitch better by not pitching," said Francona. "At the same time, you can talk about mechanics, and they need to, but also, if it's not working mechanically, you just have to find a way — not to make something up, but to compete and find a way through it. But we're not giving up on him."

Indeed, the Sox summoned Delcarmen Tuesday night with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the seventh inning, and he retired Mark Teahan on a fly ball to end the inning. Still, Delcarmen's ERA has leapt from 2.98 on August 7 to 4.31 today. In the month of September, it's 19.63.

He needed rescuing the two outings prior to Tuesday, against Baltimore on Sunday, and Monday against Kansas City. His implosion Monday was a major reason the Sox lost to the Royals.

But an effective Delcarmen, armed with high-90s heat and elusive breaking balls, adds much to the Boston bullpen, so the team wants to give him every chance to succeed.

"He makes our bullpen so much better because he can get lefties out and he can go more than one inning," Francona said.

His issues are mechanical in nature, but not easily solved, Francona said.

"He's got to get his rear end under him. Just when he gets to that balance point, he's got to go this way, instead of running away from his arm. It's a lot easier said than done," the manager said.

Even if the Sox intend on giving Delcarmen time, the calendar may work against them.

With only 12 games left, Delcarmen does not have forever to figure out his issues. If his struggles continue, it's no sure thing that Delcarmen would make the 25-man playoff roster.

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Boston has set its rotation for the looming weekend series against New York. Jon Lester will take the mound Friday, followed by Daisuke Matsuzaka Saturday, and Paul Byrd Sunday.

Wakefield would be slotted in at some point after that, in order to give another starter an extra day of rest when needed. Francona seemed to indicate that Lester might be the beneficiary the next time a Wake-break is issued.

"We'll talk to Lester and these guys after they pitch again and see how they feel," Francona said.

The Yankees have also flipped their rotation for the series. They will use Joba Chamberlain, CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte.

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Jason Bay has an RBI in seven straight games, the second time this season he's knocked in a run seven games in a row. He's only the second Red Sox player to do that twice in a season, the first being Ted Williams in 1950, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

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Dustin Pedroia doubled in the first inning to extend his hit streak to 14 games, closing in on his career high of 17; he's hitting .363 over his streak. Victor Martinez singled in the sixth to extend his own hitting streak to a career-high 21 games. He is now only one off the team high for the season, Jacoby Ellsbury's 22-gamer in May.

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Team doctors have not discovered anything new on Nick Green's back/leg problems, except that he is working with trainers in Boston, and will rejoin the team in New York this weekend. Green is hampered by what he called a ‘dead leg,' which team doctors think might be tied to an issue with the disks in his spine.

dbarbari@projo.com