Dice-K extends his scoreless streak

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched eight shutout innings and pushed his scoreless streak to 15 in Cleveland, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 4-1 win over the Indians on Monday night.

Matsuzaka (5-2) gave up four hits — all singles — and was never threatened by Cleveland’s punchless lineup.

The right-hander continued a remarkable run by Boston’s starters on the road. In the club’s last nine games outside Fenway Park, the Red Sox rotation is 8-0 with a 0.70 ERA.

It was the 150th career win for Dice-K, who won 108 games in Japan before signing with the Red Sox in 2006.

He walked two, struck out five and allowed only two runners to reach second before he was replaced to start the ninth by reliever Daniel Bard, who gave up a leadoff homer to Austin Kearns.

Marcus Scutaro hit three doubles and scored twice as the Red Sox improved to 9-2 on the road since May 18.

Boston made the most of its five hits off Fausto Carmona (4-5) in six innings.

The opener of the four-game series was a homecoming for Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez. The three-time All-Star was traded by the Indians last season before the July 31 deadline. Martinez was wildly popular during his eight seasons with Cleveland. He received a nice ovation before each at-bat and finished 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Carmona, whose record doesn’t reflect how well he has pitched in a personal bounce-back season, only trailed 2-0 entering the seventh. But Scutaro led off with a double and eventually scored on Martinez’s fly to deep left off Hector Ambriz, giving Boston a three-run cushion.