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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, May 23, 2008

Red Sox slam Royals

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Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up three runs and six hits, but became the American League's first eight-game winner.

STEVEN SENNE | Associated Press

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BOSTON — The Red Sox made winning look easy at Fenway Park the past few days.

A no-hitter, two grand slams in a game and two pitchers coming up from Triple-A to get wins — it couldn't have gone much better in a four-game sweep of Kansas City.

J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell supplied the slams yesterday to help Daisuke Matsuzaka remain unbeaten, and Boston completed a perfect seven-game homestand with an 11-8 win over the Royals.

The series started with Jon Lester's no-hitter Monday and closed with Lowell and Drew joining the club's record books. It was just the fourth time Boston has had two slams in a game at home.

"Everybody feels like they're doing something for us, and they are," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

After Lester's gem, Justin Masterson and Bartolo Colon were called up from Pawtucket and picked up wins.

"It closed a nice homestand for us," Lowell said. "The thing I like most is we plugged two new guys in."

Drew and Lowell were the first to hit slams in the same game at Fenway since Tony Armas and Bill Buckner did it Aug. 7, 1984. The last time Boston had two slams in a game was when the switch-hitting Bill Mueller hit both — one from each side — at Texas on July 29, 2003.

Matsuzaka (8-0) gave up three runs on six hits, walked six, struck out seven and threw two wild pitches while becoming the AL's first eight-game winner. Arizona's Brandon Webb has nine wins.

"They started it off by a no-hitter and we didn't pitch good against their potent offense," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "We didn't do a whole lot offensively until today."

Lowell also had a double and single for the Red Sox, who started the homestand with a three-game sweep of Milwaukee.

With Boston trailing 1-0 in the second, Manny Ramirez, Lowell and Kevin Youkilis each singled before Drew drove Brian Bannister's fastball into the second row of the Green Monster seats.

"I fouled a ball off my foot and walked around a little bit, thinking before I got back in the box," Drew said. "It's kind of nice to be home and play well in front of your fans."

Lowell hit his slam off reliever Jimmy Gobble to cap a six-run sixth that made it 11-3, after Ramirez was intentionally walked. Rangers 8, Twins 7: Josh Hamilton hit a two-out homer in the 10th inning to lift visiting Texas. Hamilton's drive into the left-field seats against Brian Bass (1-1) gave him 12 homers, matching Chicago's Carlos Quentin for the AL lead. Hamilton went 2 for 4 and moved past Minnesota's Joe Mauer for the best average in the league, .335.

TIGERS 9, MARINERS 2

Brandon Inge and Matt Joyce homered for host Detroit. Jeremy Bonderman (3-4) won for the first time in four May starts, allowing two runs and eight hits with two walks in six innings. Freddy Dolsi picked up his first major-league save with three shutout innings.

BLUE JAYS 4, ANGELS 3

Lyle Overbay hit a go-ahead solo homer in the sixth, A.J. Burnett won back-to-back starts for the first time this season and host Toronto avoided a three-game sweep. Burnett (5-4) gave up three runs and six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out six.

WHITE SOX 3, INDIANS 1

Carlos Quentin hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and host Chicago won its eighth straight game. Quentin had two RBIs and Jermaine Dye added a run-scoring single in the eighth to finish off a three-game sweep of the Indians, who have scored only 13 runs during their six-game losing streak.

YANKEES 2, ORIOLES 1

Robinson Cano singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning for host New York. Hideki Matsui led off the ninth with a single off Jim Johnson (0-2) and later scored from second base, beating left fielder Jay Payton's high throw.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MARLINS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 0

Andrew Miller limited Arizona to five hits in seven innings, and host Florida completed a three-game sweep in a showdown of first-place teams. The 23-year-old Miller (4-3) had a career-high nine strikeouts, walked one and allowed only one runner to reach second base.

PHILLIES 7, ASTROS 5

Brad Lidge earned a save against his former team, and visiting Philadelphia got home runs from Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell. Howard also had an RBI double, and Lidge improved to 12-for-12 in save chances this season by getting Lance Berkman to pop up for the final out with a runner on.

BRAVES 4, METS 2

Chipper Jones' single drove in the go-ahead run during a three-run seventh inning, and host Atlanta beat New York to complete its first four-game sweep of the Mets in five years. Atlanta's Tim Hudson (7-3) gave up seven hits and two runs in eight innings. He had four strikeouts and no walks.

PADRES 8, REDS 2

Khalil Greene hit two solo home runs, and Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff each had a two-run shot to back Randy Wolf in host San Diego's win over Cincinnati. Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 598th home run in the first inning for the Reds. Wolf (3-4) yielded two runs and four hits in seven innings.

PIRATES 8, BREWERS 4

Jason Bay and Xavier Nady homered for host Pittsburgh. Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny (4-4) won despite giving up eight hits and walking four in five-plus innings. Nate McLouth had his first four-hit game and scored twice for Pittsburgh.