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Matsuzaka shelled in return as Cards romp

Jun 22, 2008 - 12:49 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Cardinals made short work of Daisuke Matsuzaka in his return from the disabled list.

Troy Glaus smashed a grand slam and Aaron Miles added a two-run shot while Mitchell Boggs scattered five hits over 5 1/3 innings to lead the Cardinals to a 9-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday at Fenway Park.

"The home runs are great and everyone loves the home run, it's the glamor thing," Glaus said. "The bottom line is we scored nine runs, that's what we needed to do and that's our job."

J.D. Drew continued his torrid hitting, belting his 14th homer and 10th in June for the Red Sox, who lost just their second home series and first since April 22-24 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Making his first start since May 27 at Seattle, Matsuzaka (8-1) suffered his first loss in nine decisions and could never find his rhythm in his first start since heading to the DL with a mild right rotator cuff strain.

"We caught a break," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said of the Boston starter. "He's coming off the disabled list. You could tell he was rusty. He fell behind and had to throw the ball down the middle. Sometimes, you pop it up. Today, we didn't."

The Red Sox's righthander walked Skip Schumaker on five pitches to open the game and Miles followed by drilling Matsuzaka's fastball to the grandstand seats in right for his first homer since last September 8, putting the Cardinals ahead, 2-0.

"I didn't know he was on the disabled list," Miles said. "He may not have had his best velocity today that he's accustomed to. He walked Skip twice in front of me, fortunately, I got the hit and run and got a pitch up and it went out of the ball park. We stayed on him and then Troy got the big hit. Overall, a good day for us at the plate."

Ryan Ludwick followed with a sharp single to right before Rick Ankiel flew out to deep right and Glaus singled to left. Matsuzaka was one out away from getting out of further trouble when Chris Duncan grounded out to first. But Jason LaRue singled to left, scoring two more and putting the Cardinals up, 4-0.

Two more walks and a single by Miles in the second brought an end to Matsuzaka's day after just 48 pitches.

"I was hoping to do a good job after being away for so long, but I don't think the gap itself was a part of the problem," Matsuzaka said of his three-week layoff. "I can't really think of anything that was good. Things were mostly bad today. I just hope that I can get back to a good spot as we go forward and when I'm given my next chance to start, I hope I can do better."

"I think if you ask him his command probably wasn't exactly where he wanted and he walked a couple of guys, he made some mistakes and we were able to take advantage and it was that simple," Glaus said. "We put some good at-bats together for the time he was in there and that was great."

Matsuzaka, who reported no physical problems afterward, allowed six hits and seven runs over one-plus inning of work, walking three and striking out just one.

"From the very first hitter, it was a rough day," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "When he came out, there were not complaints of soreness, fatigue, anything. So that's a good sign. I'm hopeful we just chalk it up to a bad outing. There wasn't a lot of location, nothing real sharp today. He stated he felt fine."

With the bases loaded and none out, rookie righthander Chris Smith made his major league debut in relief. He struck out Ankiel on three pitches before Glaus unloaded a line drive to the second row of "Green Monster" seats in left for his fourth career grand slam and an 8-0 St. Louis advantage.

The early offensive fireworks overshadowed an effective outing by Boggs. The Cardinals' righthander allowed just a two-run double by Alex Cora.

Boggs (2-0), making his third big league start, walked two, struck out one and hit a batter over his 5 1/3 innings.

"I was excited about this opportunity," Boggs said. "This is one of the great places in sports. I didn't want to get too hyped up for it. It was a special day for me."

The Red Sox drew to within 8-3 on Drew's homer off Boggs leading off the sixth before Ankiel responded with his 12th homer of the season, a solo shot to Boston's bullpen to open the seventh.

"For the guys in this clubhouse to come out and support me the way they did today was huge and made it a lot easier for me," Boggs said. "I could go after guys and not worry about it being a tight game. It was a good experience for me."

Boston, which fell to 28-9 at Fenway Park, hadn't lost consecutive home games since April 23-24.