BOSTON – The Red Sox got a good start in the AL championship series – then the rest of their rotation fell apart.

Right-hander, left-hander, knuckleballer. Every pitcher Boston has started against the Tampa Bay Rays since Daisuke Matsuzaka's brilliant performance in the ALCS opener has failed.

It was Tim Wakefield's turn on Tuesday night and Tampa Bay responded with a 13-4 win, crushing Boston for the second straight day to move within one win of their first World Series.

The balls flew out faster than Wakefield's knuckler twirled toward home plate. He gave up homers to Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and Willy Aybar and five runs total before leaving after just 2 2-3 innings.

Wakefield's shaky outing was just the latest in a series of poor performances by Boston starters.

Righty Josh Beckett was rocked for eight runs over 4 1-3 innings in a 9-8 loss in Game 2, and lefty Jon Lester gave up five runs in 5 2-3 innings in a 9-1 loss in Game 3.

Now it's up to Matsuzaka to do what none of them could – shut down the Rays. The Japanese right-hander will face James Shields on Thursday night at Fenway Park with Boston trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. He was spectacular in a 2-0 victory in Game 1, allowing just four hits in seven innings.

Manager Terry Francona, loyal to players who have been with the team a long time, showed no inclination to start Paul Byrd instead of Wakefield, who pitched for the first time in 16 days. Byrd is 3-1 in seven postseason games and got the win in Cleveland's 7-3 victory over Boston last year that gave the Indians a 3-1 lead in the ALCS. The Red Sox rallied to eliminate Cleveland and swept Colorado in the World Series.

But Byrd, who pitched 3 1-3 innings in relief of Lester on Monday, has a 10.80 ERA this postseason.

The failures of Beckett, one of baseball's best postseason pitchers, and Lester, who allowed no earned runs in 14 innings this postseason before Monday, were more shocking than Wakefield's.

The 42-year-old righty was just 10-11 with a 4.13 ERA this season and was shelled in two of his last five regular-season starts – seven runs in 1 2-3 innings on Sept. 6 at Texas and six runs in 2 1-3 innings on Sept. 17 in a 10-3 loss at Tampa Bay.

He entered this season with a 19-3 career record against Tampa Bay but went 0-2 with a 5.87 ERA against the Rays this year. Byrd hadn't faced the Rays all season.

Wakefield did strike out the first batter, Akinori Iwamura, on Tuesday.

Then the disaster began.

B.J. Upton walked and Pena and Longoria homered for a 3-0 lead. Carl Crawford then doubled and Dioner Navarro walked, but Wakefield got out of the jam.

He settled down in the second, retiring the side in order. And he set down the first two batters in the third. Then Crawford hit a roller toward first. Wakefield chased it, fell flat on his stomach and flipped the ball too late to first baseman Mark Kotsay.

He didn't have to move very far when the next batter, Aybar, hit a 2-1 pitch over the left-field wall. Navarro then singled and Wakefield was finished for the night.

Unless the rotation recovers, the Red Sox could be done for the year soon.