Manager Terry Francona made the announcement on Thursday afternoon following a series finale with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The move was designed to buy a little more time for Daisuke Matsuzaka, the originally scheduled starter who pitched in relief in the 13th inning of Wednesday's affair, which ended early the next morning.
"Just want to try to put a day in between for Dice, for obvious reasons, because he pitched last night, or this morning," Francona said.
When he finally steps to the mound again, Matsuzaka will have gone eight days between starts. He left his prior outing last Friday after just four-plus innings when he experienced tightness in his elbow.
Wakefield will be followed by Clay Buchholz, Matsuzaka and Jon Lester in the finale of the Twins series on Monday opposite Francisco Liriano. Josh Beckett, whose outing Wednesday night was cut short by a lengthy rain delay, will start the opener of a two-game set in Toronto on Tuesday.
