Drew, Lowell hit grand slams and BoSox top Royals

[May 23, 2008]  BOSTON (AP) -- J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell hit grand slams to help Diasuke Matsuzaka remain unbeaten, and the Boston Red Sox completed a sweep of their seven-game homestand with an 11-8 win over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

Drew and Lowell were the first Red Sox players to hit slams in the same game at Fenway Park since Tony Armas and Bill Buckner did it Aug. 7, 1984. The last time Boston had two slams in a game was when the switch-hitting Bill Mueller hit both -- one from each side -- at Texas on July 29, 2003.

Boston's seven wins comes after it dropped the final four of a 4-6 road trip. The Red Sox open a 10-game trip in Oakland on Friday night.

Lowell also had a double and single as the Red Sox finished their four-game sweep of the Royals after taking three from Milwaukee over the weekend.

Jose Guillen went 4-for-5 with a solo homer and three RBIs, and Miguel Olivo had three hits and five RBIs for Kansas City.

Matsuzaka (8-0) gave up three runs on six hits, walked six, struck out seven and threw two wild pitches while becoming the AL's first eight-game winner. Arizona's Brandon Webb has nine wins.

Jonathan Papelbon got the final three outs for his 14th save.

Matsuzaka became only the second Japanese-born pitcher to start a season 8-0 in the majors. Hideki Irabu started 1999 with eight wins for the New York Yankees.

With Boston trailing 1-0 in the second, Manny Ramirez, Lowell and Kevin Youkilis each singled before Drew drove Brian Bannister's fastball into the second row of the Green Monster seats. Youkilis' RBI single made it 5-1 in the third.

Ramirez went 1-for-4 with a single, but remains two homers shy of becoming the 24th player in major league history to hit 500.

Lowell hit his slam off reliever Jimmy Gobble to cap a six-run sixth that made it 11-3, after Ramirez was intentionally walked. Lowell's line drive hit off a light stand above the Monster on a red-and-white sign with the numbers "498," signifying Ramirez's home run mark.

Bannister (4-6), who allowed seven runs on 12 hits, couldn't work his daytime magic against the hot Red Sox. Entering the game, he was 4-0 with a 0.62 ERA in starts under the sun.

Kansas City scored a pair in the fifth when Alex Gordon walked leading off -- the sixth allowed by Dice-K -- and scored on Guillen's RBI double. Olivo's run-scoring double cut it to 5-3.

Guillen's RBI single made it 1-0 in the first. His homer came against reliever Craig Hansen in the seventh.

Olivo's three-run homer cut it to 11-8 in the eighth.

Notes: It was Drew's first regular season slam with Boston. He had one in Game 6 of last season's ALCS. ... Drew had Wednesday's game off after fouling a ball off his right knee the previous night. ... Matsuzaka threw a season-high 118 pitches. ... Red Sox manager Terry Francona rested catcher Jason Varitek after the club played a night game Wednesday. He's expected to get two straight days, with backup Kevin Cash scheduled to make his usual start catching knuckeballer Tim Wakfield Friday. ... RHP Clay Buchholz, on the 15-day DL with a broken middle finger nail, is slated to make a rehab start for Triple-A Pawtucket Sunday. ... The Royals' season-high 11-game trip concludes with four games in Toronto beginning Friday night. ... Cash made his first start with Matsuzaka pitching. ... First base umpire Brian Knight barely skipped out of the way of Gordon's fifth-inning foul line drive.

[Associated Press; By CHRIS DUNCAN]

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