Bay's three-run homer, for all intents and purposes, ended a great night of pitching at Progressive Field as Boston beat the Indians , 3-1. What it did for the Red Sox was give them 11 straight victories. What it did for the Indians was spring another hole in the dam separating merely a bad start from a flood of defeat.

The Indians have had everything go wrong in their first 20 games with the exception of Wood. They haven't hit. Their starting pitching and middle and late relief have struggled. The defense has been inconsistent, but in Wood they could trust.

Monday night wasn't a save situation, but Wood was in the game because the Indians were at home in the ninth inning of a scoreless game. Cliff Lee shut out Boston for eight innings and Tim Wakefield and Manny Delcarmen did the same to the Indians .

"It doesn't matter how hard you throw if you miss your spot," said Wood. "I put it over the plate, and he whacked it."

Wood walked Dustin Pedroia to start the ninth.

"Walking the leadoff guy in the ninth inning of a tie game is never what you want to do," he said.

With the Indians' outfielders playing deep to stop anything from being hit over their heads, David Ortiz blooped a single into center field. Kevin Youkilis flied out to right to bring Bay to the plate. He took a strike before driving the next one 408 feet into the bleachers for a 3-0 lead.

"The guy throws 100 mph," said Bay, who had three of Boston's eight hits. "That's in the back of your mind. You've got to be prepared to hit a mistake. I got a fastball over the plate and didn't miss it."

In his past two starts, Lee has allowed two runs in 16 innings. The Indians have scored one run in those two games.

"It's frustrating," said Wood. "Your ace goes eight great innings and you can't get a win for him - again."

Boston's Jonathan Papelbon came on for the save, but Shin-Soo Choo and Ryan Garko opened the ninth with singles. Jhonny Peralta, in a 1-for-27 slump, took a called third strike, but Mark DeRosa singled through the middle to make it 3-1. It broke an 0-for-11 skid for DeRosa, but that was it as Kelly Shoppach struck out and Ben Francisco fouled out.

"We came back and got the winning run to the plate in the ninth," said Wedge, "but we need to do a better job leading up to that point in time."

The Indians are 7-13. Their longest winning streak is two games.

"No one is happy about where we are right now," said Wood. "We've got to piece a couple of wins together so we can get some rhythm going."

Lee allowed five hits and struck out five. He has lowered his ERA from 12.60 to 3.94 in his five starts.

"That was the Cy Young guy from last year, no question," said Bay. "He had good life on his fastball. The radar gun says it's 92 mph to 93 mph, but it's got some life to it. It plays a little harder than that."

Wakefield held the Indians to one hit, a first-inning single by Victor Martinez. He struck out five and walked four. It looked like the 42-year-old knuckleballer could pitch forever.

"He had the good one dancing tonight," said Garko. "When you see him striking out guys with it when it's in the strike zone, you know he has a good one."

Wedge was ejected for arguing that Mike Lowell had grounded out to third base to end the fourth inning. Third base umpire Brian Gorman called the ball fair, which would have ended the inning, but he was overruled by plate umpire CB Bucknor, who called the ball foul. In the same at-bat, the Indians felt they struck out Lowell on a third-strike foul tip, but first base umpire Mike Everitt said it hit the dirt.

"It was just a bad call," said Wedge, ejected for the first time this season. "Cliff's out there working his tail off and he's got to get the same guy out twice at the very least."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158

BOX:

Today

What: Indians vs. Red Sox.

When: 7:05 p.m.

Where: Progressive Field.

TV/radio: SportsTime Ohio; WTAM AM/1100.

Pitchers: RHP Anthony Reyes (1-0, 4.76) vs. RHP Brad Penny (2-0, 7.80).

Weather: 54 degrees, 50 percent chance of rain.