There will be more on Pedroia's status Saturday, but it is never good to hear that a player needs more tests after getting an X-ray. Stay tuned.
As for the game itself, the Sox were in control early after Kevin Youkilis hit a three-run homer in the first.
But Boston managed cash in on several scoring opportunities later in the game, scoring just once after the home run despite getting 10 walks. The club left 11 men on base in the last four innings alone, 13 overall.
The Giants' insurance run in the eighth proved to be the difference.
It's incredible how aggravating each loss on this trip has been. You would almost prefer an 8-0 setback or something like that instead of what we've seen in the past few days.
Boston will attempt to get back into the win column Saturday night with Clay Buchholz on the mound opposite Boston College product Joe Martinez. First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
End 8th, Giants 5-3: The Sox will have the heart of their order up in the ninth, but it's completely altered since Mike Cameron has replaced the injured Dustin Pedroia in the third spot in the lineup. Daniel Nava, Cameron and Kevin Youkilis will face Giants closer Brian Wilson
As for Pedroia, he had X-rays on his left foot and the medical staff will conduct more tests Saturday. Not the best of news, but we'll see what that really means.
Mid 8th, Giants 4-3: Marco Scutaro looks at a third strike to strand two more runners in the eighth. The Sox have left eight men on in the last three innings alone.
Another strange game here. Seems like Boston has been involved in plenty of those on this trip.
The Sox have four hits, nine walks and have struck out 10 times. The Giants have 11 hits, two walks and have struck out just three times.
David Ortiz hit for Tim Wakefield in the eighth, drawing a walk. Ramon Ramirez has taken over on the mound.
12:48 p.m.: Anyone still up? If you are, you might be interested to know that the Giants are bringing in a new pitcher with two outs and nobody on in the eighth.
The closer Brian Wilson is on to try to get the last four outs.
End 7th, Giants 4-3: Tim Wakefield is on the wrong end of the score but has given the Red Sox exactly what they needed. If he hadn't made an ill-advised flip to first base during the Giants' rally in the second this might be a different story.
As it is, Wake has thrown 100 pitches and may get one more with a lack of good options in the bullpen.
Mid 7th, Giants 4-3: Santiago Casilla's inability to throw strikes allows the Red Sox to load the bases for the second straight inning, this time on three walks. Victor Martinez's inability to make contact leaves them loaded again.
Martinez swings and misses on a 2-2 offering from Casilla. Boston has now left eight men on, including five in scoring position.
End 6th, Giants 4-3: Runs are becoming extremely hard to come by as this game wears on. After the Sox leave the bases loaded in the top half of the sixth, the Giants strand two in the bottom half.
Tim Wakefield has thrown 89 pitches. He'll get at least one more inning.
Mid 6th, Giants 4-3: Once this one becomes a full-blown battle of the bullpens, it may favor the Giants. Not only does San Francisco have a quality stable of relievers with a dominant closer in Brian Wilson, but the Sox are thin out there.
Sergio Romo, the first Giants reliever of the night, survives a bases-loaded situation in the sixth with a three-pitch strikeout of Darnell McDonald.
11:58 p.m.: The Giants are the first to go to the bullpen. After issuing his fourth walk of the game, Jonathan Sanchez is lifted. Adrian Beltre is batting with two on and one out in the sixth.
End 5th, Giants 4-3: The Red Sox' training staff is likely winded from all these trips on and off the field. They check out Tim Wakefield in the fifth after a combacker gets him near the foot, the second time he's been hit by a batted ball.
Wakefield was OK and able to wiggle out of a jam when he gets a rare out on Aaron Rowand.
Mid 5th, Giants 4-3: Since walking Dustin Pedroia in the third, Jonathan Sanchez has retired eight in a row. Mike Cameron will lead off the sixth in Pedroia's spot.
End 4th, Giants 4-3: Tim Wakefield has thrown 62 pitches through four. The Sox would love to get him through six innings, at least, with a limited bullpen.
Mid 4th, Giants 4-3: Jonathan Sanchez appears to have settled in a bit after a shaky start. He has his firs 1-2-3 inning, recording two straight strikeouts to start it off.
End 3rd, Giants 4-3: The Red Sox led 3-0 just one out into this game. Since then it's been all Giants, and the injury-plagued Sox are seeing their ranks thinned out even more.
Juan Uribe clocks a Tim Wakefield knuckler into the stands in left to snap the tie in the third. It is the 12th home run of the season for Uribe.
To adjust to the Dustin Pedroia injury, the Sox moved Bill Hall from right field to second, Darnell McDonald from center to right and Mike Cameron from the bench to center.
Mid 3rd, 3-3: Mike Cameron, running for the injured Dustin Pedroia, is erased when Victor Martinez hits into an inning-ending double play. But the big story is Pedroia, who was barely able to put any weight on his left side. We will get you the update when we hear.
11:07 p.m.: A three-run rally by the Giants is followed up with more bad news for the Red Sox. Dustin Pedroia has left this game after taking a foul off his left foot. Pedroia walked later in the at bat but had a heavy limp when he was taken off the field.
End 2nd, 3-3: Just a disastrous inning for Tim Wakefield, who was struck in the leg by a line drive and later established himself as a regular on blooper reels your kid's kids will watch. Oh yeah, he also gave up three runs.
Wakefield did make a nice play to cut down another run at the plate, scooping a ball to Victor Martinez with his glove. But prior to that it was rough going.
With one out, Pablo Sandoval singled and then took second on a wild pitch. Buster Posey singled in Sandoval to get the Giants on the board.
Following a walk to Aaron Rowand, who is 11-for-17 liftetime against Wakefield, Eli Whiteside lined one off Wakefield's leg. The ball settled behind second base and the bases were loaded for pitcher Jonathan Sanchez.
A .095 hitter this year, Sanchez dragged a bunt down the first base line that Wakefield chased down before attempting an extremely awkward backwards flip that sailed over first baseman Kevin Youkilis's head.
Two runs came in on the play, the second of which was unearned due to Wakefield's error.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 3-0: The highlight of the second inning is Tim Wakefield busting it down to first base, an absolute blur. Wakefield had put down the seventh sacrifice bunt of his Red Sox career, moving Darnell McDonald to second.
A walk followed, the second issued by Jonathan Sanchez, but nothing more materialized for the Sox.
Sanchez has walked five batters four times this year. He has some quality stuff, but can lose the strike zone from time to time and Boston is a team that will make him pay for doing so.
End 1st, Red Sox 3-0: Tim Wakefield throws 27 pitches less than his counterpart in the first inning, an early positive on a night when the Red Sox' bullpen is short.
Terry Francona confirmed that both Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen are not available in this one. He may want to stay away from Scott Atchison as well.
Mid 1st, Red Sox 3-0: The bats are still alive for the Red Sox. Kevin Youkilis slugs his 15th home run of the year with two on, giving Boston 16 runs in its last eight innings overall and highlighting an extremely long first inning for Jonathan Sanchez.
Marco Scutaro started it off with a single and is now batting .321 (35-for-109) when leading off an inning this year. A Daniel Nava walk came before Dustin Pedroia struck out in an eight-pitch at bat.
Youkilis, who saw eight pitches himself, then launched one down the line in left.
Sanchez, who walked five and lasted just 2 2/3 innings in his previous start, threw 37 pitches in the first.
9:59 p.m.: There are a number of homecomings taking place for the Red Sox, who are in San Francisco for the first time since 2004. Dustin Pedroia grew up in nearby Woodland and Daniel Nava is a native of nearby Redwood City and has dozens of family and friends on hand.
Also, this is the park that Scott Atchison called home in 2007 before spending two seasons in Japan.
On a completely unrelated note, Edwin Jackson has finished an eight-walk no-hitter against the Rays, his former team. The Rays have been no-hit three times in 11 months.
Good stuff.
9:31 p.m.: In a quick glance at the Red Sox' nearest competitors, we see that Edwin Jackson is no-hitting the Tampa Bay Rays. Jackson has one out in the eighth. He has walked seven and thrown a ton of pitches so we'll see what happens.
9:03 p.m.: We are just over an hour from the first pitch. Following is the lineup facing Tim Wakefield, who seems to meet a milestone every single time out; he is making his 400th start with the Red Sox on Friday.
Andres Torres, RF
Freddy Sanchez, 2B
Aubrey Huff, LF
Juan Uribe, SS
Pablo Sandoval, 3B
Buster Posey, 1B
Aaron Rowand, CF
Eli Whiteside, C
Jonathan Sanchez, P
There is some feast or famine in the lineup when it comes to facing Wakefield. While Rowand is 11-for-17 (.647) with four home runs against the knuckleballer, Huff is just 9-for-55 (.164) with nine strikeouts.
7:55 p.m.: The Red Sox' move this afternoon, sending down Josh Reddick and recalling reliever Fabio Castro, was done for the right reasons. But we have to take a closer look at Reddick's three stints with the Sox so far.
This is a team that has had a massive need for help in the outfield, playing 21 different combinations of players out there this year (at last count) and starting 10 different guys (again, at last count).
Reddick, just 23, has been given a golden opportunity to run with it and build off the promising seasons he has had in the minor league system and an outstanding spring training with the big club that left him on the doorstep in the event there was a need for help. A long run as a starter, or at least a guy who plays maybe five times a week, has been there all along, but he just has not produced.
Remember, Reddick and Darnell McDonald were the first brought up when the injuries began to come. That was on April 20 and they took the spots of Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron. But everyone was crowding around Reddick's locker, not McDonald's, to ask questions.
Now here is Reddick getting surpassed by a guy many had never heard of in Daniel Nava. While the team will say that Reddick is being sent down in order to get regular at bats and continue his progress, that's exactly what Nava has received because he has hit so well. Those could be Reddick's starts if he showed a little more.
Reddick was 1-for-7 in his first call-up, 2-for-10 in his second and 1-for-8 with four strikeouts in the third. Couple that with his meager numbers at Pawtucket, Nava and McDonald's regular contributions and it adds up to a series of missed opportunities for Reddick.
There will be others, but it's been a disappointment.
6:25 p.m.: The Sox have settled in the City by the Bay, and we are settling in to get you up to speed on things. The news has been out there all day, but just in case you had not heard yet, the club has made a move, sending Josh Reddick back to Pawtucket for the third time and recalling lefty reliever Fabio Castro.
The move means two things. One, the club is making sure it has enough arms to get through the evening after Thursday night's marathon.
Two, J.D. Drew will be back in the lineup Saturday when there is a right-hander on the mound.
Without Drew, here is the Red Sox' lineup for the opener in San Francisco:
Marco Scutaro, SS
Daniel Nava, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Victor Martinez, C
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Bill Hall, RF
Darnell McDonald, CF
Tim Wakefield, P
Back in a bit with more updates.
9:30 a.m.: Tim Wakefield gets the nod in the opener of the last interleague series on the Red Sox' schedule as they take on the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
The Sox, the best interleague team in the majors since 2003, improved to 11-4 with a marathon 13-11 win over Colorado on Thursday, avoiding a sweep. Dustin Pedroia was the hero, smacking a career-high three home runs and driving in six.
Wakefield is 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA in his last two starts on the road, but owns a 6.03 ERA in six career outings against San Francisco.
Boston should have Kevin Youkilis back in the starting lineup, but J.D. Drew may sit one more game with lefty Jonathan Sanchez on the mound.
We'll have all the pregame updates right here leading up to the first pitch at 10:15 p.m.
