BOSTON – Fans were treated to a great pitching performance in Daisuke Matsuzaka’s Fenway Park debut – only it was by Felix Hernandez.
Seattle’s pitching phenom didn’t allow a hit until J.D. Drew singled on his first pitch of the eighth inning, and the Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox 3-0 Wednesday night in the heralded first major league matchup between Dice-K and Ichiro Suzuki.
“That’s fine for me when the guys all talk about him,” Hernandez said of Matsuzaka. “I just go out and do my best.”
The burly Hernandez (2-0), three days past his 21st birthday, pitched a one-hitter for his third complete game in 45 starts. Hernandez struck out six and walked two, retiring his first eight batters until walking Dustin Pedroia. He hasn’t allowed up a run in 17 innings this season.
And he wasn’t distracted by the hype about the pitcher the Red Sox invested $103 million in and who had started his major league career with a strong victory in Kansas City.
Before a crowd of 36,630, Matsuzaka (1-1) allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings, striking out four and walking one.
“With all the hype going into this game with Matsuzaka and Ichiro,” Seattle manager Mike Hargrove said. “I kept in the back of my mind that people better not overlook our guy.”
The pregame hoopla focused on Matsuzaka’s first matchup in the major leagues against Suzuki, another Japanese star.
In Japan, Suzuki was 8-for-34 (.235) against Matsuzaka, including strikeouts in his first three at-bats. That was in 1999 and 2000, Suzuki’s last two years in Japan and Matsuzaka’s first two as a pro.
The next season with the Mariners, Suzuki led the majors in batting average and stolen bases and won the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP awards.
“He’s a hitter that I’ve wanted to face since my days in Japan,” Matsuzaka said, “so, compared to the other batters, I may have been a little more conscious of his at-bats.”
Matsuzaka’s path to the majors covered eight seasons with the Seibu Lions before he agreed to a $52 million, six-year contract with the Red Sox last December. The team had to pay Seibu $51.11 million for his rights.
Before the first pitch of the game, Matsuzaka squatted several times behind the mound. Then, with cameras flashing and fans cheering, Suzuki stepped in.
“That was a moment that probably only Daisuke and I could have created,” Suzuki said through a translator. “To be in that moment, I’m happy.”
He took the first pitch for a strike.
“It wasn’t easy to throw with the flashbulbs going off,” Matsuzaka said, “but I’m glad I got a strike.”
Suzuki fouled the next pitch behind home plate, but Matsuzaka threw balls on the next three pitches, drawing boos. Suzuki then hit a hard grounder that Matsuzaka gloved easily and threw to first baseman Kevin Youkilis.
It was Boston’s most exciting comebacker since Keith Foulke gloved Edgar Renteria’s grounder for the final out of the World Series victory by the Red Sox in 2004.
Matsuzaka made another good play to end the seventh – and his night – when he scooped up shortstop Julio Lugo’s low throw to complete a double play on his 102nd pitch.
But he gave up a run in the second on a single by Jose Guillen, a double by Kenji Johjima and a sacrifice fly by Yuniesky Betancourt. The other two runs scored in the fifth on an RBI double by Adrian Beltre and an RBI single by Jose Vidro.
“It was a night when there was no room for error,” Boston manager Terry Francona said.
Hernandez lost his no-hit bid when he couldn’t get his 86th pitch of the game past Drew, who has hit safely in all eight games since signing a $70 million, five-year contract as a free agent.
Hernandez dominated the Red Sox just one day after they had battered the Mariners 14-3 with 14 hits in Seattle’s first game after snow in Cleveland caused four days of postponements.
“He had everything going on tonight. He was just impossible,” Boston’s David Ortiz said.
As a rookie, Hernandez had a 2.67 ERA and 4-4 record in 12 starts. He was 12-14 with a 4.52 ERA, last year, lost weight during the offseason and on opening day struck out 12 and allowed just three hits in eight innings of a 4-0 win over Oakland.
“He lives up to his hype,” said Red Sox reliever Joel Pineiro, who played for Seattle last season.
And he doesn’t get rattled by strong offenses.
“The Red Sox are not chopped liver,” Hargrove said.
In his debut last Thursday, Matsuzaka struck out 10 and allowed one run, one walk and six hits in seven innings of a 4-1 win over the Royals. Before Wednesday’s game, fans cheered when he walked to the bullpen to warm up.
He paused, holding his cap over his chest, when blues singer Susan Tedeschi sang the U.S. national anthem from behind home plate. When she was done, she turned around to face the field, showing the back of her shirt with the name “Matsuzaka” and his number “18.”
In the stands, a fan held a Japanese flag with some extra writing on it: two dice, one with one dot on it and the other with eight dots, and the letter “K,” symbolizing Matsuzaka’s nickname, “Dice-K.”
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