Dice-K Beats Sabathia as Red Sox Blank Indians, 1-0

Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed four hits in seven innings to earn his 12th win for Boston. (AP Images)

Rookie Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched seven shutout innings to outduel C.C. Sabathia, denying Cleveland's ace his 14th win, as the Boston Red Sox won their fifth straight, 1-0, over the Indians on Monday night at Jacobs Field.

Matsuzaka (12-7), tagged for a season-high 12 hits in his first start against Cleveland on May 30, gave up four hits before turning it over to the majors' best bullpen. The righthander who had pitched his entire career in Japan prior to this season allowed just one runner to reach third and improved to 5-2 in his past eight starts.

Dice-K, with his dizzying array of pitches, was only slightly better than Sabathia (13-5), who gave up five singles, struck out seven and didn't allow a walk in seven strong innings. Matsuzaka was pulled after 98 pitches, giving way to Hideki Okajima, who worked a perfect eighth. Jonathan Papelbon pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save in 24 tries as the Red Sox reached the 100-game plateau a major league-best 61-39.

Two soft singles and a blooper that probably should have been caught plated the game's lone run in the fourth. Boston's Kevin Youkilis dropped a base hit into right, just under the glove of a sprawling Trot Nixon. Manny Ramirez, batting a jaw-dropping .571 against Sabathia, followed with a single to left.

With two outs, Sabathia got Mike Lowell to overswing and hit a fly toward left for an apparent easy out. However, rookie Ben Francisco misread the ball, took a step backwards and by the time he recovered, couldn't make a diving catch near the line as Lowell's pop fell for an RBI single.

The Indians threatened in their half of the fourth, putting two on with one out before Matsuzaka struck out Francisco and Josh Barfield, blowing fastballs past both for strike three.

The Red Sox were underdogs for the second night in a row. They paid +116 on the moneyline (meaning a winning wager of $100 would net a $116 profit) and beat the +1.5 runline.

In other early American League action on Tuesday:

Toronto 7, Minnesota 0: Vernon Wells drove in four runs, Dustin McGowan (7-5) won consecutive starts for the first time since early June and the Blue Jays won as -115 road favorites to match their longest winning streak of the season at four. Toronto blanked its opponent for the third time in four games and raised its season shutout total to eight. Wells homered in the fourth off Scott Baker (4-4), his 14th of the season but first since July 6, and added a two-run double in the eighth against Pat Neshek.

Chicago White Sox 5, Detroit 3: Javier Vazquez (8-5) allowed four hits over eight innings to win his fifth straight decision, and Paul Konerko's two-run homer off Jeremy Bonderman led the White Sox to their first win in five games as they took the opener of a day-night doubleheader. Chicago paid +116 as a home underdog.

Texas 2, Seattle 1: John Rheinecker, recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma, allowed only an unearned run over seven innings as the Rangers won the opener of a doubleheader in Arlington, Texas. Rheinecker (1-0), who was brought up on Monday, limited the Mariners to six hits. Eric Gagne pitched the ninth for his 15th save in 16 chances. The Rangers were -111 favorites.

For complete MLB odds for Wednesday, visit the Bodog Sportsbook.