It may seem like it’s taken forever for Tim Wakefield to get his 200th career win, but he’s had longer droughts in his career. In a span that covered the end of the 2000 season and lingered into 2011, Wakefield went 11 starts without recording a victory for the Pirates.

It’s now six starts and counting since Wakefield last had a win on July 24, which is tied for the fourth-longest drought of his Red Sox tenure. But all of that is small comfort as he continues to sit on 199 wins.

Wakefield gave up eight runs — four earned — in four innings of work in a 15-5 loss to the A’s Friday night at Fenway and while he was often a victim of bad luck, Wakefield was also hurt by the long ball. He’s now given up 10 home runs in his last eight games after surrendering two more against the A’s.

Wakefield’s start comes on the heels of Andrew Miller‘s most impressive outing of the season, which may open the debate about who deserves to stay in the rotation in the month of September. But with a loaded schedule that includes 23 games in 23 days beginning Tuesday against the Yankees, the Sox may be in no hurry to make a decision.

For now, the wait simply continues for No. 200.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

- The fourth inning started poorly and got progressively worse. It began with some bad luck after Wakefield appeared to catch Kurt Suzuki with a full-count fastball but home plate umpire Brian Runge called it a ball. After a pop-up that would have ended the inning, Scott Sizemore took Wakefield deep to make it 4-1.

That’s when things really went bad. Wakefield struck out Jemile Weeks but he reached on a passed ball by Jarrod Saltalamacchia. After a walk, Hideki Matsui launched a two-run double to center and then Josh Willingham made it 8-1 with yet another home run. For good measure, an error by Jed Lowrie prolonged the inning.

- It was probably inevitable after the team plane landed around 5 a.m. from Texas, but the Sox were a step behind defensively all night. Saltalamacchia’s passed ball opened the door to further damage in the fourth and then in the seventh, Mike Aviles had problems in left field and Lowrie committed his 15th error of the season. His five alone at third base are as many as he has had in his previous seasons.

- Lowrie’s struggles with lefties continued as he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez and also struck out against reliever Jerry Blevins. Lowrie is hit-less in his last eight at-bats against lefties and has only two hits in last 14 at bats. He also struck out looking with runners on second and third in the seventh against the right-handed pitching Grant Balfour.

- After giving up four runs in the eighth, Matt Albers has given up 13 runs in 4 1/3 innings in his last five appearances.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

- David Ortiz continued his impressive assault against left-handers. He came into the game hitting .328 against lefties and went 2-for-2 against Gonzalez and added a double against reliever Brian Fuentes. Ortiz swatted his 26th home run of the year and now has eight home runs against lefties this season, which is even more impressive when you consider that he had eight combined the last two seasons. Since returning from a heel injury, Ortiz is 6-for-12 with two doubles and two home runs.

- Dustin Pedroia tied his career-high for home runs with his 17th of the season in the fourth inning off Gonzalez. Pedroia is now 33-for-82 (.402) with six home runs out the cleanup spot in 20 games.

- Scott Atchison was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket to provide protection to the pitching staff in case things got out of hand either Friday night or in Saturday’s doubleheader and the Sox needed him on Friday. He gave them three solid innings in relief of Wakefield, allowing one run on three hits.

- Kudos to Darnell McDonald for picking up the Sox with an inning of mop-up work in the ninth. It’s never an ideal situation for a position player to take the mound, but McDonald gave it a shot. It was the first pitching appearance of his career.