Dice-k, Indians blank Reds

Lester perfect for Bosox in win over Cards

GOODYEAR, Ariz, Feb 25, (AP): Daisuke Matsuzaka believes he can be the Dice-K of old, the one who mystified hitters with his unorthodox delivery and arsenal of deceptive pitches.

The Indians just need him to a dependable fifth starter.

Matsuzaka, nearly two years removed from Tommy John elbow surgery, pitched two hitless innings in blustery conditions and seven Cleveland pitchers combined on a one-hitter, leading an Indians split squad to a 3-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

Once a $100 million curiosity in Boston, Matsuzaka was limited to just 11 starts last season for the Red Sox, who parted ways with the 32-year-old after six seasons. With at least one spot open in their rotation, the Indians signed the Japanese right-hander on Feb 13 to a minor league contract, and will pay him $1.5 million if he’s added to the 40-man roster this spring.

With winds gusting to 30 mph, Matsuzaka got off to a shaky start in his debut, hitting Cincinnati’s Ryan Hanigan with his first pitch before getting a double-play grounder on his second. He allowed a walk in his second inning, but otherwise looked solid during a 22-pitch outing, barely a warmup for someone who once threw 250 pitches in a 17inning game.

Scouts sitting behind home plate with radar guns said Matsuzaka’s fastball topped out at 89 mph, but he’s not worried about his speed this early in camp.

‘’That’s exactly where I expected my fastball to be at this stage,’’ he said through a translator as more than two dozen Japanese media members waited to speak with one of their country’s biggest stars. ‘’The more I throw and the deeper we go into spring training, I’m sure my velocity will also rise.’’

Matsuzaka went just 1-7 with 8.28 ERA last season for the Red Sox, but the Indians are hoping he can get somewhere close to being the pitcher who won 33 games in his first two seasons in the majors. Cleveland manager Terry Francona can vividly remember those days when Dice-K was dealing.

‘’His stuff across the board was solid,’’ said Francona, who won two World Series titles in Boston. ‘’He had the ability like no other pitcher to wiggle out of jams. There could be bases loaded and nobody out, we’d be on the edge of our seat and he wasn’t. He got out of it like nobody’s business.’’

Although the Indians have upgraded their roster with free-agent signings, their rotation remains suspect.

Cleveland’s starters had the AL’s second-highest ERA (5.25) last season and Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez, the respective Nos. 1 and 2 arms, went a combined 20-32 with a 5.15 ERA. The club signed Brett Myers, who pitched in relief last season, to be their No. 3 starter with Zach McAllister the frontrunner for the fourth spot.

Matsuzaka is among a group battling for the fifth spot that includes Scott Kazmir, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, David Huff and Corey Kluber.

McAllister also pitched two hitless innings as the Indians won their third straight over the Reds, who only managed a single from Jason Donald in the sixth inning after scoring 10 runs on 18 hits Saturday.

Red Sox 5, Cardinals 3 In Jupiter, Jon Lester is eager to put last season behind him. His first spring training outing was a good start.

Lester pitched two scoreless, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Lester retired all six batters he faced, striking out one. He needed 24 pitches ó 17 strikes ó to get through the two innings, six in the second. All but one of Lester’s pitches were fastballs.

.”It was good to go through the whole routine of getting ready for a game, from stuff in (the clubhouse), to a full long toss, stretch, full bullpen, and then obviously get into a game and get up and down a couple times,” Lester said.

Lester struggled in 2012, going 9-14 with a 4.82 ERA ó the highest of his career. He’s been working to keep his hand on top of the ball during his delivery.

“I was trying to just get my feet under me, get back into the rhythm of pitching, get the ball down in the zone ó all the things we talk about that I didn’t do last year,” Lester said.

That improvement so far has impressed new manager John Farrell.

“He’s made some tangible adjustments in camp, and I think those were started last season, and they’ve carried over into spring training,” Farrell said.

Shortstop Rafael Furcal served as the Cardinals’ designated hitter in his first game experience of the spring, and he led off the bottom of the first by lining out to first. He’d later ground out to short.

The 35-year-old is recovering from a strained ligament in his throwing elbow that cut his season short last year. He recently received a cortisone shot in that elbow to help with a painful bone spur.

After the game he said the elbow, “feels good ó a little heavy right now.”

Furcal expects it to be at least a few more days before he is able to play the field.

Even without a player expected to appear in the opening-day starting lineup, the Red Sox found enough early offense.

Back-to-back second inning singles from Mauro Gomez and Mark Hamilton put runners on the corners.

Pedro Ciriaco’s bloop to center field fell in front of Justin Christian, bringing home the first run. The Red Sox scored another on Jose Iglesias’ grounder to second base.

Dodgers 2, White Sox 2 In Glendale, Ariz, Zack Greinke felt right at home in his new uniform.

The right-hander pitched two clean innings in his Dodgers debut and Los Angeles tied the Chicago White Sox 2-2 in a Cactus League game that was called after nine innings.

Pitching for the first time since he signed a $147 million, six-year contract to join the free-spending Dodgers in the offseason, Greinke retired six of his seven batters. He struck out leadoff man Dewayne Wise and third-place hitter Alex Rios in the first inning.

Greinke gave up one hit, a single up the middle by Jeff Keppinger.

‘’He knows exactly what he wants to do,’’ Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. ‘’Knowing it’s his first time on the mound with the umpire and everything, obviously there were no issues.’’

Nothing about pitching in a game in late February made Greinke feel nervous, even if it was his first with his new team. Expectations will be high with that huge contract.

‘’That will mostly be when the season starts,’’ Greinke said. ‘’Spring training is just getting ready. I kind of feel like we just got to spring training, so I didn’t expect much out of it today.’’

Hanley Ramirez had an RBI single and Luis Cruz homered for the Dodgers.

White Sox slugger Adam Dunn hit an opposite-field, two-run homer to left against Peter Moylan. Chicago manager Robin Ventura was happy to see Dunn get his first long ball out of the way after he hit 41 last season.

‘’If it lingers on too much, not having good at-bats, you are starting off battling from the negative,’’ Ventura said. ‘’It’s nice for everybody to kind of get on the board and have a good at-bat.’’

For his first time out, Greinke was fairly pleased to get on board with two scoreless innings.

Orioles 5, Blue Jays 4 In Dunedin, Fla, Spring training results aren’t terribly important to Mark Buehrle. After allowing four straight hits to the Baltimore Orioles in his second inning Sunday, the new Toronto Blue Jays lefthander said he wasn’t disappointed. In fact, everything went according to plan.

Buehrle, acquired in a blockbuster trade with Miami, retired his first four hitters before allowing a single to Lew Ford, a two-run homer by Steve Pearce and singles to Danny Valencia and Taylor Teagarden.

After 1 1-3 innings and 35 pitches, Buehrle was yanked. The Orioles went on to beat a split squad of Blue Jays 5-4.

‘’It seems I never pitch too good in spring training. My numbers aren’t too good. I don’t care if it’s spring training or during the season, I try to get outs. I don’t like to kid around, even though it doesn’t matter,’’ Buehrle said.

Buehrle was obtained by the Blue Jays, along with Josh Johnson and Jose Reyes, after one season with the Marlins. Now he’s back in the American League, where he spent 12 seasons with the Chicago White Sox.

Two of Buehrle’s outs came on fly balls. One was a strikeout and the other was a grounder, which he prefers.

‘’When I’m going good, I’m getting a lot of ground balls,’’ Buehrle said. ‘’If they find holes, that’s part of the game, but fly balls aren’t good. When I’m getting flyouts, that means I’m not down in the zone as much as I’d like. Got some pitches, got some work in, so it’s obviously a good day.’’

Reyes played in his first game for his new team, going 1 for 2, and slugger Jose Bautista hit a long two-run homer off Troy Patton in the third inning.

Sergio Santos, whose 2012 season ended in April after right shoulder surgery, pitched the third inning and retired all three batters. He said he felt strong.

Jair Jurrjens started for Baltimore. An All-Star with Atlanta in 2011, Jurrjens allowed a run on two hits in two innings. One of many contenders for the fifth spot in the rotation, Jurrjens was signed to a minor league deal on Feb 15.

‘’He was sloppy with his breaking ball, which happens to everybody early on,’’ Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. ‘’He was facing a pretty good lineup. We’ll see where it takes us. He’ll tighten some things up.’’