ST. PETERSBURG -- Tampa Bay Rays fans raised the decibel level inside Tropicana Field with their noisemakers. But Rays players could have used more cowbell as pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Boston Red Sox's bullpen silenced their bats for a 2-0 win in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Friday.

Matsuzaka flirted with history, taking a no-hitter into the seventh before Carl Crawford broke it up with a leadoff single. But even though Matsuzaka failed to join Don Larsen as the only pitchers to throw a postseason no-hitter, he and the defending champion Red Sox gained the early upper hand in the best-of-7 series.

Matsuzaka, an 18-game winner, flummoxed the Rays, who had bested Boston in the American League East race during the regular season but came out flat in front of a noisy sellout crowd of 35,001.

Offense was in short supply for both clubs as Matsuzaka and Rays starter James Shields went toe-to-toe, dueling for seven innings.

Matsuzaka was a touch better. Matsuzaka, a 28-year-old right-hander from Tokyo, dominated the Rays, holding them without a hit through the first six innings, working his way out of a jam in the seventh and surviving another scare in the eighth.

In order to even the series and avoid heading to Boston in a difficult 2-0 hole, the Rays must get past Josh Beckett, who has been lights-out in postseason play with the Red Sox and Marlins.

SATURDAY SHOWDOWN

Beckett will face Scott Kazmir in Saturday's Game 2 showdown of Texans. They will have a hard time matching the twin performances turned in Friday by Matsuzaka and Shields.

Matsuzaka issued three first-inning walks to load the bases. But the Rays were unable to capitalize. And when they struck for back-to-back hits in the seventh to end the no-hit bid and put runners at the corners with no outs, the Rays still couldn't score.

Matsuzaka left the runners stranded by retiring the next three hitters.

The Rays finally knocked Matsuzaka out in the eighth with consecutive singles by Akinori Iwamura and B.J. Upton to start the inning. But left-handed reliever Hideki Okajima, brought in to face Carlos Pena, caught a break when Pena received the green light on a 3-0 pitch and flied out to right.

Justin Masterson then got Evan Longoria to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Matsuzaka allowed four hits in seven innings in the winning performance, walking four and striking out nine.

HELD TO SIX HITS

For all the trouble the Rays had at the plate, the Red Sox didn't exactly go to town with their lineup.

They collected only six hits off Shields -- and seven altogether -- but squeezed out the necessary runs to prevail.

It was a scoreless game until the fifth, when Mark Kotsay followed Jason Bay's leadoff walk with a check-swing double off Shields. Bay tagged from third and scored on Jed Lowrie's sacrifice fly to right.

But the Red Sox could not score Kotsay from third with one out, as Shields retired Jason Varitek and Jacoby Ellsbury to end the inning.

The Red Sox produced their second run in the eighth on a sinking liner to left by Kevin Youkilis, which skimmed off the end of Crawford's glove and enabled Dustin Pedroia to score from second.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@