BOSTON -- After giving up six runs in 1 2/3 innings against the Red Sox in an 11-3 loss on Tuesday night at Fenway Park, one wonders if there is something wrong with Livan Hernandez. In his last two starts, Hernandez has given up 11 earned runs in 8 1/3 innings.

Hernandez told the media that he is fine. He said his knee, which was surgically repaired during the offseason, is healthy and there is nothing wrong with his mechanics. He gave a lot of credit to the Red Sox hitters, who collected eight hits off the right-hander.

"I'm not making any excuses. They beat me and they beat me bad," Hernandez said. "Everything I threw today, they hit it somewhere. I was looking for a groundball for a double play and they hit a ground ball up the middle [for the base hit].

"I feel good and I throw the ball. Everything I throw is not the way I want. I have to take it like that. It's not mechanics, because the strike zone is perfect. Boston is in first place. They are a great team. They are a team that hits a lot."

Nationals pitching coach Randy St. Claire believes something is wrong with Hernandez. St. Claire noticed that Hernandez's velocity is down from the outings in which he won four consecutive games from late May to early June. On Tuesday, St. Claire said there wasn't much difference between Hernandez's fastball and breaking ball. St. Claire plans to talk to Nationals' ace on Wednesday to see what the problem is.

"At the beginning of the year, I thought it was his knee, because he wasn't using the lower half of his body. And then he started using the lower half and his velocity got up and he got himself back to .500. He was throwing the ball pretty good," St. Claire said. "And then in his last three starts, he is pitching back to 78 to 83 [miles per hour]. He hit 85 a couple if times today. It's very difficult to pitch [with] that velocity. There are only two guys, left-handers, that are doing that. It's very difficult for a right-hander to do that."

Hernandez was unscathed in the first inning against the Red Sox, but he put the Nationals behind the eight-ball in the second as the Red Sox scored six runs. Mark Loretta highlighted the scoring with a two-run single.

Hernandez faced 10 batters before manager Frank Robinson took him out of the game for reliever Jason Bergman. Hernandez's 1 2/3 innings tied his shortest outing of his career. The last time he had that short of an outing was on July 3, 2002, when he pitched against the Rockies as a member of the Giants.

Hernandez is unfazed by the fact that he is 5-8 with a 5.64 ERA and believes he will have a good season by the time it is over. He recalls getting off to a slow start with the Giants in 2000 and ended up being the team's best pitcher. That year he was 7-7 with a 4.25 ERA before the All-Star break, but went 10-4 with a 3.19 ERA after.

"I'm not the kind of guy that believes the season will be bad," Hernandez said. "There's a lot of baseball. I know I will be better than this. Maybe people here are mad at me because I don't win 12 games in the first half [like last year]. [The team] can get mad at me, but don't be two-faced and talk behind me, because it's not right."

Hernandez's short outing caused the bullpen to be overused for the second-straight night. Bergmann and Bill Bray combined to pitch 4 2/3 innings and gave up five runs -- four earned. Gary Majewski and Chad Cordero saw action, but were not touched for runs. Now, with the exception of Cordero, Robinson doesn't know who will be available out of the bullpen.

Shawn Hill will start for the Nationals on Wednesday and it's almost a given that he will not pitch a complete game. Robinson is usually cautious when it comes to pitchers who are coming off elbow reconstruction.

"Back-to-back nights like we had, to go to the bullpen, that's not good at anytime," Robinson said. "Certainly Hill is not going to go out here and pitch a complete game. We are going to have to go to the bullpen and I don't know who will be ready out there other than [Cordero]. Those guys have been out there for a longer period of time than they should be out there."

Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was on the mound for the Red Sox, and the right-hander handcuffed the Nationals for six innings, giving up one run on four hits. The only time they scored off him was in the sixth inning, when Jose Guillen walked with the bases loaded to drive in Marlon Byrd.

"He had a good knuckle ball. He kept it down. It was dancing a lot. It was hard to center that ball. That's why he has been around so long and that's why he has been so effective," shortstop Royce Clayton said.

Washington has now lost two consecutive games and dropped its record to 32-41.