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Matsuzaka dominates as Red Sox drop Mariners

Jul 23, 2008 - 6:22 AM By Paul Lowenberg PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SEATTLE (Ticker) -- J.D. Drew homered and drove in two runs to help Daisuke Matsuzaka to his 11th win as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Seattle Mariners, 4-2, on Tuesday night for their second consecutive road victory.

Matsuzaka (11-1) extended his personal scoreless streak to 24 1/3 innings before the Mariners reached him for two runs in the eighth.

Matsuzaka was charged with two runs and five hits while striking out six and walking three in 7 1/3 innings. He had allowed a total of just one earned run in his previous four starts.

"I thought he threw his fastball well, and he didn't let them back into counts," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "I think the rest has done him really well. He's given up so few hits. He's made it harder with his command. He keeps winning. He threw the ball well."

The Mariners, losers of four straight, had failed to score against the Red Sox for 23 consecutive innings before the eighth.

"We didn't get to (Matsuzaka) early in the ballgame," Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said. "Whether that's because we're swinging at too many pitches or what. He's throwing strikes. He's getting his breaking ball over. He was on top of his game pretty good, and we just didn't get to him until late."

Boston held a 4-0 lead when rookie Bryan LaHair led off the inning with a single for his first major league hit. All-Star Ichiro Suzuki plated him with a one-out double and Jose Lopez followed with an RBI single to center, halving the deficit.

Hideki Okajima relieved Matsuzaka and got Raul Ibanez to ground into a fielder's choice and Jose Vidro to fly out, ending the frame.

All-Star Jonathan Papelbon worked a perfect ninth inning for his 30th save, becoming the first pitcher in Red Sox history to record 30 or more saves in three consecutive seasons.

"If I wasn't able to throw a complete game tonight, I don't know when I'm going to be able to do it," said Matsuzaka, who has just one in 49 starts since joining the team last year.

Catcher and team captain Jason Varitek said the pitching has helped the club break out of it post-break mini-slump, which saw it lose three in a row to Anaheim.

"It's been two really good starts, and this team needed it," Varitek said. "(Matsuzaka) had better command and he was able to entice some ground balls. He threw a lot of different tilts with his cutter and his four-seamer and got a mix of all of his pitches. And he was strike one, for the most part."

Mariners starter R.A Dickey (2-5) made it through six innings but left after giving up a leadoff single in the seventh. The 33-year-old knuckleballer was tagged for four runs, nine hits and three walks without recording a strikeout.

"I had a pretty good knuckleball. (It) might not have been a swing-and-miss knuckleball, but they were pretty patient," Dickey said. "They waited on pitches to hit. I gave up nine hits, five of them were non-knuckleball pitches, so I got a little bit too aggressive with my fastball tonight."

After Drew's 18th homer in the first opened the scoring, Boston tacked on three more runs in the fifth for a 4-0 lead.

Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a bunt single, took third on Dustin Pedroia's base hit and scored on Drew's sacrifice fly. Manny Ramirez followed with a single to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, and Mike Lowell delivered an RBI double.

Jed Lowrie's sacrifice fly accounted for the final run in the inning.

Pedroia's hit gave him a 23-game road hitting streak, one shy of the Red Sox record set by Nomar Garciaparra in 1998.