FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Tim Wakefield is showing no signs of slowing down as he begins his 13th year with the Boston Red Sox. Not much has changed for the right-hander, either.

His knuckleball still baffles hitters and he doesn’t need much time to prepare for the regular season. “Same old, same old,” Wakefield said after allowing three runs in six innings in a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday. “I was ready last week. I threw 88 pitches today (and) still felt like I had some gas in the tank.”

Wakefield, who had a brilliant rookie season with Pittsburgh in 1992, is working under a contract that allows the Red Sox to extend it one year at a time at $4 million.

Wakefield moved up from the fifth spot in the rotation to the fourth last week when the Red Sox abandoned their plans to make Jonathan Papelbon a starter and returned him to the closer’s role he had last year when he had 35 saves and a 0.92 ERA. “I feel really good about our team this year,” said Wakefield, who held Pittsburgh scoreless for his last four innings.

“With Pap coming in closing the door, if (the starters) can go five, six or seven innings, hopefully it’s a one- or two-inning game after that.” A stress fracture in his rib cage kept Wakefield on the disabled list from July 22 to Sept. 13 last season. He ended up with a 7-11 record and 4.63 ERA. Tony Armas has spent parts of the last four seasons on the disabled list and is slated to be the Pirates’ fifth starter.

Armas, who became a free agent after pitching for Washington last season, got the win Tuesday, allowing two runs and five hits with six strikeouts and a walk in 5 2-3 innings. “He wasn’t what he was in some previous starts this spring, but when a guy goes out there and pitches into the sixth, battles and makes pitches when he has to, that’s what you love to see,” Pirates manager Jim Tracy said.

“That’s one of the areas we were very weak at in the early part of last season. Games got away from us. We couldn’t put innings down.”

Ronny Paulino continued his productive spring training with a two-run homer in the first, extending his hitting streak to 13 games. But his batting average dropped to .500. His .310 average last season left him and Mike Piazza, who hit .318 in 1993, as the only rookie catchers since 1969, when division play began, to hit at least .310 and catch at least 100 games.

Left fielder Andrew McCutcheon doubled in Pittsburgh’s third run in the second and is hitting .327. He is the team’s top prospect but was sent to the minors last weekend.

Boston cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 3-1 in the third when Julio Lugo scored on Armas’ wild pitch, and 3-2 in the fifth on an RBI single by David Ortiz. Last year’s AL leader in RBIs, Ortiz is hitting just .196 with nine hits but has driven in a team-high 11 runs.

AP-ES-03-27-07 1731EDT