Red Sox starting pitcher Tim Wakefield was all pumped up after fanning Tampa Bay’s Delmon Young to end the seventh inning last night with the tying run on third base and Boston nursing a 1-0 lead.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — On Saturday, a day after the Red Sox had squandered a four-run lead with six outs to go, the Red Sox turned to Josh Beckett in the hopes that the presumptive Cy Young Award favorite would make sure that the crushing defeat from the night before wouldn’t carry forward.

When the same kind of late-inning loss stung the Sox on Sunday afternoon, the Sox had a less obvious stopper on the mound. But Tim Wakefield, who recently turned 41, was no less dependable than Beckett.

Holding the Tampa Bay Devil Rays hitless for the first six innings, Wakefield tossed eight shutout innings and steered the Red Sox back on course with a 3-0 victory, his 14th of the season.

“Unfortunately, we had some games won there (in Baltimore),” Wakefield said. “That’s baseball sometimes. That’s why you play 162 games. And I think it was very important to come back home and get some momentum going our way on this homestand.”

It helped, of course, that the opponents were the Devil Rays, who came into last night with the worst record in baseball, having lost five of their first six games with the Red Sox this season. It helped, too, that Wakefield was 17-2 lifetime against the Rays.

Wakefield and catcher Doug Mirabelli had the suspicion that Wakefield’s knuckleball, as unpredictable as any pitch in the game, might be particularly good after his bullpen session prior to the game. Just how good wasn’t clear until the game began, however.

“He came out of the bullpen with a good one,” said manager Terry Francona, “and took it right into the game. It was pretty obvious that he had a good feel early on.”

Indeed, Wakefield retired the first nine Rays in succession before walking Akinori Iwamura to start the fourth. After the free pass, Wakefield began another streak, retiring the next seven in a row.

After six, the Rays were still hitless. Wakefield said he became aware of the no-hitter after five.

“It’s such a close ballgame,” he said, “you’re just trying to keep runners off base, especially the top three guys in the (Tampa) lineup that can run really, really well. Dougie and I were on the same page together, mixing some good pitches in when we needed to.”

The no-hit bid didn’t last much longer. Carl Crawford singled through the hole between first and second to lead off the seventh and quickly stole second base.

When Crawford advanced to third following a flyout to center by Carlos Pena, the shutout bid and the Sox’ lead were both soon at stake, with the Sox clinging to a 1-0 advantage.

But Wakefield got Delmon Young to swing at strike three, stranding Crawford and preserving the slim margin, a strikeout that the normally placid Wakefield called “huge — probably one of the biggest of my career.”

The Rays managed just one more hit — a harmless one-out single by Jonny Gomes in the eighth — before Wakefield gave way to closer Jonathan Papelbon, who recorded his 28th save and fifth in his last five scoreless appearances.

For six innings, the one run the Sox managed off Tampa Bay’s James Shields stood up. Julio Lugo (three hits) led off the first with a single and scored all the way from first on David Ortiz’s booming double to the triangle in center.

In the seventh, two-out walks to Mirablelli and Eric Hinske set the table for Lugo, who singled up the middle, scoring Mirabelli.

“He swung the bat well,’ said Francona of Lugo, who has boosted his batting average to .238. “I think he probably gets a little excited to play these guys (Lugo played for the Devil Rays from 2003 through the middle of last season). I think most players do against their former friends and teammates. I think that’s usually the case.”

A run-scoring single from Mike Lowell in the eighth extended the lead to 3-0.

“Our offense did a great job scoring enough runs to bring in Pap to close it out,” said Wakefield.

smcadam@projo.com