BOSTON -- The Sox offense certainly isn’t firing on all cylinders over during the current 10 game homestand that will close out the first half of the baseball season, but they’re doing just enough to stay afloat.

The Boston bats scraped and scrapped their way to taking two out of three games against an Oakland A’s pitching staff that entered the night ranked sixth in the American League with a staff ERA of 4.25. Big Papi stepped forward with a three-run home run into the teeth of the win in the sixth inning of Wednesday night that helped lead Boston to a 5-4 win over a middling Athletics team at Fenway Park.

Tim Wakefield pitched six innings of Houdini-esque baseball while working out of jams with a mesmerizing knuckleball, and Jonathan Papelbon hung on in the ninth inning through a nail-biter 30-pitch save that’s becoming altogether too common for the Sox closer this season.

Jerry Hairston smashed what looked to be a game-altering home run to left centerfield in the ninth off Pap that even the Sox hurler thought was long gone and hard to find, but instead the gusting wind knocked the ball down and Jacoby Ellsbury was able to track it down.

Game over, and – as Papelbon said – it “was a good thing the wind was on Boston’s side last night.”

“That was a losable game tonight,” said Sox manager Terry Francona. “But we fought enough and held on.”

Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has put together a pair of three-hit games in his last handful of starts and is looking at his batting average beginning to creep back up toward .300 now that he’s in his customary No. 2 hole. Designated hitter David Ortiz has smashed nine round-trippers in his last 28 games and finally appears to be on track.

Left fielder Jason Bay is coming out of a month-long funk that’s been riddled with strikeouts and 0-fers, and first baseman Kevin Youkilis continues to see his batting average drop at an alarming rate since coming of the 15-day disabled list on May 20.

“Some of our guys are kind of up and down and we’ve had some guys at the same time going down,” said Sox manager Terry Francona. “But it’s good to see some big hits with good swings now that we’ve just got to get guys going at the same time.

“If we can win some of these games, if we’re still not knocking the ball around like we want to. That’s good.”

Many of the key offensive pieces aren’t expending at their maximum output right yet, and the Sox have dropped out of the top spot among American League teams in runs scored and on base percentage after leading the AL in the early going. The Red Stockings still ranks four in runs and a very respectable third in on base percentage, but the Sox clearly need a healthy Mike Lowell and Jed Lowrie if they’re going to return to their overpowering offensive ways.

In the meantime, the Sox are still leading the AL East and boasting the best record in the junior circuit heading into the All-Star break.  Certainly there are much worse places to be with the halfway mark nearly here.