Well, well, well. Color me fuckin’ shocked. Daisuke Matsuzaka shut out the Anaheim Angels over six-plus (yes, you read that right) innings as the Red Sox took the first game of a three game series, 4-1 at Fenway Park Tuesday night. Dice-K allowed three hits while striking out five on 93 pitches.
Sox shortstop Alex Gonzalez scored on a John Lackey throwing error in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Sox a 1-0 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. David Ortiz (2-4) hit an RBI single in the same frame then added a solo shot in the eighth to cap the scoring for Boston. Jason Bay had knocked in J.D. Drew one at-bat earlier but was thrown out at second trying to leg out a double.
But the story of the game was Matsuzaka (2-5), who was composed and showed good control in his first start since June. Dice-K got out of a big 2nd and 3rd jam with two outs in the fifth after allowing Kendry Morales and Eric Aybar to reach, but struck out number nine hitter Jeff Mathis and leadoff man Chone Figgins to end the threat. He appeared slimmer since we last saw him a Red Sox uni, a product of the Red Sox training program he was put on, and hit 93 mph+ on multiple pitches. It was certainly a positive step in the right direction with the Sox looking for consistency at the end of their rotation.
Private Pyle-look-alike John Lackey (10-8) was the tough luck loser for Anaheim, going 7.2 innings while only allowing three runs (two earned). Ramon Ramirez, Billy Wagner, Daniel Bard, and Jonathan Papelbon combined for three innings of one-run relief to spell Dice-K.
Tomorrow night, Boston turns to Paul Byrd (1-1, 6.38 ERA) to continue moving forward following his last start (seven shutout innings in TOR) against Anaheim’s Joe Saunders (13-7, 4.81 ERA) at 7:05 p.m.
