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Final Score: Texas 0 - Boston 10

Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Daisuke Matsuzaka threw seven shutout innings, and Boston used a nine-run second inning to cruise to a 10-0 win over Texas, to complete a three-game sweep of the Rangers.

Matsuzaka (14-2) surrendered six hits and five walks, while striking out five, to pick up the win for the third consecutive start. In the first game of this series, the Red Sox scored 10 times in the first inning and needed to battle back for a 19-17 win.

Matsuzaka's performance made Thursday's result a little easier, as Boston got a three-run home run from David Ortiz. Additionally, Dustin Pedroia finished 3-for-5 with two doubles and a run batted in, while Jed Lowrie went 3-for-4 with an RBI to help Boston win its fourth straight.

"I didn't think he commanded quite as well as he did the other night, but he has a knack for it," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said of Matsuzaka. "He doesn't give in. He executes pitches, especially against some of those hitters, as dangerous as they are, he stayed away from real solid contact and made good pitches."

Tommy Hunter (0-2), making his third major league start, was touched for nine runs on seven hits in just 1 2/3 frames. Michael Young had two of the six hits for the Rangers, who have lost seven of eight.

Hunter set Boston down in order in the first inning, but Kevin Youkilis got the Boston rally started in the second with a single. After a fly out, Lowrie hit another single and Jason Varitek walked to load the bases.

Coco Crisp plated one run with a single, and then Hunter hit Alex Cora with a pitch to force in another run. J.D. Drew then grounded into a fielder's choice, allowing Varitek to dash home, and runners were left on the corners.

Pedroia stroked a double to left that brought in Crisp, and Ortiz followed by blasting a three-run shot to right, also completing Boston's turn around the batting order.

Youkilis got on base again, this time with a double, and Jason Bay singled him in. That chased Hunter from the game, and Warner Madrigal came in. Lowrie plated Bay by doubling before Madrigal fanned Varitek to at last end the frame.

"We went out in the first inning and we had a pretty clean inning," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "But then, in the second inning, we started falling behind and it's obvious that you don't fall behind on these guys, because when they're ahead in the count and you have to come across the plate, they don't usually miss. And they didn't miss. Before we knew it, the wheels were off."

Matsuzaka got into a few jams of his own -- notably a bases loaded situation with two away in the top of the second. However, he struck out Ramon Vazquez to end that threat, and got Milton Bradley to ground into a double play in the third to escape the inning after having runners on the corners with one out.

"We got all those runs near the beginning of the game, so I should have been able to go out there and get outs at a better pace, but I wasn't able to do that," Matsuzaka said. "I felt like I was struggling to get into a good groove all game. But the one good thing was that I held the runners after allowing them to get on base."

The Boston starter only got better from that point on, and only had one runner reach second base for the rest of his outing. Manny Delcarmen tossed a scoreless top of the eighth, and pinch-hitter Jeff Bailey plated Pedroia with an infield single in the home half. Mike Timlin worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the shutout.