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Drew, Dice-K lead BoSox over Astros

Fri 27th, June 2008

Houston, TX (Sports Network) - J.D. Drew belted a three-run homer and Daisuke Matsuzaka threw five shutout innings to rebound from his lone defeat of the season in Boston's 6-1 victory over the Astros in the opener of a three-game series.

Making his second start back from the disabled list, Matsuzaka (9-1) allowed two hits, walked three and struck out four. The Japanese right-hander was removed after throwing 87 pitches. He missed more than a month with a right rotator cuff strain, and was battered by St. Louis for seven runs and six hits in just one-plus inning of work last Saturday.

Kevin Youkilis had four hits, and Dustin Pedroia went 3-for-4 with an RBI and scored twice for the Red Sox, who won their third in a row. Friday marked their first-ever regular-season game in Houston.

Jonathan Papelbon threw the final 1 1/3 innings for his 24th save.

Reggie Abercrombie smacked a pinch-hit homer off Hideki Okajima in the eighth inning for Houston's lone run, as the Astros lost for the ninth time in their last 12 games at Minute Maid Park.

Runelvys Hernandez (0-1) made his first appearance since 2006 and gave up five hits and three runs over five innings to suffer the loss. He was called up from the minors to take the spot of the recently-released Shawn Chacon.

Coco Crisp walked with one out in the third and Pedroia followed with a double. Drew, whose season average stands at .309, then broke an 0-for-14 slump by depositing a Hernandez offering over the wall in right.

Houston wasted a bases-loaded opportunity in the fifth when David Newhan popped out to short to end the inning.

Pedroia singled in Julio Lugo in the seventh before Abercrombie put the Astros on the board with his homer to left. That ended a 22-inning scoreless streak by Red Sox pitchers.

Mike Lowell added a two-run single in the ninth off reliever Doug Brocail.

Game Notes

The Red Sox started a 10-game road trip Friday...Boston was the last major league team to play in Houston...Crisp had two games withdrawn from an original seven-game suspension for his involvement in a bench-clearing brawl between the Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays on June 5. Crisp had appealed the decision handed down by Major League Baseball and will instead miss five games, beginning with Saturday's contest.

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