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Final Score: St. Louis 9 - Boston 3

Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Daisuke Matsuzaka was shelled for seven runs in the shortest outing of his major league career, as the St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Boston Red Sox, 9-3, in the middle contest of a three-game interleague set.

Matsuzaka (8-1), fresh off the disabled list, was slammed for the seven runs on six hits and three walks. The righthander labored over 48 pitches, recording just three outs in one-plus innings for his first loss this season.

"I don't think there is any problem," Matsuzaka said. "I was hoping to do a good job after being away for so long but I don't think the gap itself was a part of the problem. I can't really think of anything that was good. Things were mostly bad today. I just hope that I can get back to a good spot as we go forward and when I'm given my next chance to start, I hope I can do better."

Troy Glaus had a grand slam, while Rick Ankiel and Aaron Miles also homered for St. Louis, which has taken the first two games of the series following a three-game sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals.

"The home runs are great and everyone loves the home run, it's the glamour thing, Glaus said. "The bottom line is we scored nine runs, that's what we needed to do and that's our job. I think if you ask him (Matsuzaka) his command probably wasn't exactly where he wanted and he walked a couple of guys, he made some mistakes and we were able to take advantage and it. We put some good at-bats together for the time he was in there."

Mitchell Boggs (2-0) pitched an effective 5 1/3 innings in just his third major league start, limiting the potent Red Sox lineup to three runs on five hits. Kyle McClellan, Russ Springer and Jason Isringhausen combined to toss 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

J.D. Drew hit his 14th home run of the season and 10th this month, while Alex Cora added a two-run double to account for the Red Sox scoring.

The Redbirds jumped on Dice-K early for four runs in the first. Skip Schumaker walked to lead off and Miles hammered a fastball that just cleared the short wall in right. Ryan Ludwick and Glaus singled around a fly out from Ankiel before Jason LaRue lined a two-run single to left for an early 4-0 lead.

Matsuzaka ran into more trouble in the second, loading the bases on two walks and a single to start the inning. Boston skipper Terry Francona had seen enough, lifting his starter after just one recorded inning of work.

"From the very first hitter, it was a rough day," Francona said. "When he came out, there were not complaints of soreness, fatigue, anything. So that's a good sign. I'm hopeful we just chalk it up to a bad outing. There wasn't a lot of location, nothing real sharp today. He stated he felt fine."

Chris Smith entered the contest and retired Ankiel on three straight sliders, but Glaus crushed a 1-0 curve over the Green Monster for a grand slam and an eight-run lead.

Boston got on the board in the home half. Boggs plunked Kevin Youkilis with a pitch and Brandon Moss worked a one-out walk. Cora then sliced a two-out double down the left field line, plating both runners.

Drew made it 8-3, depositing a home run to the seats in right leading off the sixth. Ankiel, though, homered to right off Javier Lopez to lead off the seventh and restore the Cardinals' six run lead.