Red Sox

No matter the outcome of last night's game, this wasn't how the Red Sox wanted to end their 10-game road trip. It just so happened this story would be devoid of any sort of silver lining.

In the midst of a 6-3 loss in the finale of the Sox' four-game set with the Orioles, the Herald's Tony Massarotti reported designated hitter David Ortiz would be out at least a month, and perhaps longer, with what the team later called a tear in the ECU tendon sheath on the top left side of his left wrist.

For a Red Sox team that had scored three or fewer runs in five of their first nine games of the road swing, the joy that came with returning to Fenway Park for a much-welcomed 10-day homestand clearly was tempered.

Of course, a three-run double by Adam Jones off reliever Hideki Okajima in the eighth inning, breaking a 3-3 tie, did nothing to boost the visitors' spirits as they jetted home.

"(Ortiz) means so much to our club and he means so much to the game of baseball," said Sean Casey, one of Ortiz' possible replacements. "We're going to have to do without him for a few weeks. We have a lot of good guys in here who will hopefully hold down the fort until David comes back in a few weeks."

Besides the usual presence Ortiz has provided in the middle of the lineup, he also had been one of the team's most consistent hitters of late until straining his wrist on a swing in the ninth inning Saturday night.

Last night, the Sox put Kevin Youkilis in Ortiz' familiar No. 3 spot, which has rarely been vacated by the 33-year-old during his six-year stay with the team. The longest the lefty slugger has been out of action came in 2006 when he missed a stretch from Aug. 28 to Sept. 4 with heart palpitations.

Without Ortiz for a second straight game, the Red Sox were forced initially to lean on his meat-of-the-order-mate, Manny Ramirez, who launched his 502nd career home run, and his third in as many games, over the right field wall in the sixth inning.

The Ramirez home run cut into a 2-0 Orioles lead that was built off Tim Wakefield. The Sox starter pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits while walking four and throwing 109 pitches, his second-highest total of the season.

"They got a couple of cheap hits and scored a couple of runs," said Wakefield, who has given up just three runs over his last 15 innings, "but I felt pretty good today."

The Sox got the equalizer in the seventh as Kevin Cash drove Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie from the game with a double into right-center field, scoring Alex Cora.

In the eighth, the Sox kept things going against O's reliever Jim Johnson. Ramirez followed a Youkilis leadoff walk with a single to left, then Mike Lowell put an inside-out swing on a Johnson offering, punching it past second baseman Brian Roberts to score the go-ahead run.

The lead was short-lived as the Orioles finally broke a streak of 14 straight scoreless innings by the Sox bullpen. Okajima gave up consecutive singles to Nick Markakis, Melvin Mora and Aubrey Huff to load the bases. Kevin Millar tied the game again with a sacrifice fly to deep right field.

Okajima got the second out when Youkilis grabbed a Luke Scott grounder and cut down Mora in a rundown between third base and home plate. But Ramon Hernandez' walk loaded the bases again, setting the stage for Jones' double, off the left field wall, just out of the reach of Jacoby Ellsbury.

It was the fifth blown save for Okajima, who allowed a career-high four hits while tying a career-worst four runs allowed.

"There are always some extenuating circumstances. Tonight he didn't throw the ball like he wanted to," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Early on when we rested him there were a couple of difficulties there, but I think we took care of it. I just think he didn't locate well tonight. You have a reliever with a sub 1.00 ERA, but sometimes you're going to give up runs."