BOSTON (AP) – Humberto Cota doubled off the Green Monster to score the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning on Saturday night and the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the Boston Red Sox 2-0.

Dave Williams and two relievers combined to snap Boston’s five-game winning streak and hand the Red Sox their first shutout of the season. Boston had been the last team in the majors to score in every game.

Rick White (3-3) allowed one hit and struck out one in two innings, and Jose Mesa pitched the ninth for his 18th save. Pittsburgh had lost its last 10 games in AL parks since June 15, 2003.

Facing the team that watched him became a rookie phenom in 1992, Tim Wakefield pitched seven shutout innings. But Alan Embree (1-4) relieved him to start the eighth and grazed leadoff batter Ryan Doumit on the arm.

Rob Mackowiak bunted the runner to second. On Jose Castillo’s grounder, third baseman Bill Mueller looked Doumit back to second and threw out the batter at first, but Doumit took off for third and beat the throw back across the diamond.

Cota hit a high fly ball that bounced off the wall for a double, his third hit of the game. The Pirates added another run in the ninth on Doumit’s RBI single.

Embree has allowed 14 runs and 16 hits – including three homers – in his last 10 outings.

Wakefield was drafted by the Pirates as a first baseman in 1988 and he went 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA as a rookie in 1992, winning two more games in the playoffs. But he went 5-11 for Pittsburgh in 93, spent 94 in Triple-A and was released by the Pirates in 95.

The Red Sox signed Wakefield that spring and he has since become the longest-tenured member of the team. He allowed seven hits, walked three, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch while striking out five.

Williams allowed five hits in six innings for his second consecutive no-decision.

Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez left the game with a bruised left leg after being hit by a pitch from Williams. He was hit in the third but remained until the fifth, when Kevin Youkilis pinch hit for him.

Notes: Doumit, a switch-hitter, batted righty against Wakefield. He leaned his elbow into a 1-1 pitch in the first inning and was hit, but home plate umpire Jerry Crawford ruled that he tried to get hit, so the pitch was ruled a strike. … Red Sox RHP Curt Schilling will throw a simulated game on Monday instead of batting practice. … The Red Sox signed 15 draft picks, none of them from the first six rounds, and three undrafted players.

AP-ES-06-18-05 2213EDT


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