Beltre’s slam defeats Indians

Associated Press

BOSTON

Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched eight solid innings and Adrian Beltre hit a grand slam to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 6-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night, earning a split of the four-game series.

Matsuzaka (8-3) allowed Shin-Soo Choo’s 14th homer of the season in the first but gave up just four more hits and never faced more than four batters in any inning. He is 5-1 in his last 10 starts and has allowed three earned runs or less in 10 of his last 12 outings.

Beltre connected for his 20th homer in the fourth inning after Josh Tomlin (1-1) retired Boston’s first 10 batters. Beltre took over the team’s RBI lead with 75.

Jonathan Papelbon got his 26th save in 31 opportunities when he struck out Trevor Crowe with the bases loaded for the final out.

Marco Scutaro singled with one out in the fourth for Boston. After David Ortiz flied out, Victor Martinez and J.D. Drew walked before Beltre hit a 1-0 pitch for his eighth grand slam and first since Sept. 21, 2006. It extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

The homer capped Beltre’s big series against Cleveland. He started it by driving in all of Boston’s runs in a 6-5 loss Monday night and finished 6 for 15 with four runs scored, three homers and nine RBIs.

Drew drove in Boston’s last two runs in the eighth with a single.

Cleveland scored on Luis Valbuena’s ninth-inning single off Hideki Okajima before Papelbon took over.

The Indians lost a chance for their first series win at Fenway Park since 2005, while the victory sent the Red Sox off to a tough 10-game road trip on a high note. They open a four-game series against the New York Yankees tonight, then play three games each at Toronto and Texas.

Boston is trying to stay in contention for a postseason berth despite a rash of injuries. The latest to be sidelined is first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery on his right thumb