It was touted as Tomo Ohka versus Daisuke Matsuzaka, just the fourth Japanese double bill in major-league history. But one of the pitchers forgot to bring his best stuff.

Ohka lasted less than five innings and suffered the loss as the slumping Toronto Blue Jays bowed 9-3 to the Boston Red Sox in front of 21,784 fans at the Rogers Centre on Wednesday.

Daisuke Matsuzaka delivers a pitch, maybe his mysterious gyroball, in a 9-3 Red Sox victory on Wednesday.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Matsuzaka (4-2), meantime, baffled the Blue Jays for seven innings to win the fourth-ever showdown between Japanese starters.

The three others were Mac Suzuki versus Hideki Irabu (May 7, 1999), Suzuki versus Hideo Nomo (July 2, 2000) and Suzuki versus Ohka (June 19, 2002).

"Nothing special," Ohka said. "I wanted to try and stop the losing streak."

Matsuzaka limited Toronto to one run on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in posting his third consecutive win.

"He threw everything for strikes and he located very well," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He threw up, he threw down.

"He executed all his pitches very, very well. It was exciting to watch."

Matsuzaka set a Red Sox rookie record with 10 strikeouts in his April 5 debut, but has been somewhat inconsistent since then.

Last Thursday, he yielded seven runs and five walks over five innings before Boston rallied to beat the Seattle Mariners 8-7.

"When I struggled, the coaches and I talked about some of the difficulties with rhythm and timing," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter.

"I definitely worked on those two elements. Once I got up on the mound today, I was not over-conscious about timing."

"He wasn't forcing the issue," Francona said. "He was trusting his ability and his command.

"He worked hard this week and it paid off."

Matsuzaka signed a six-year, $52-million US contract last Dec. 14 with Boston, which paid $51.1 million US just for the right to negotiate with him.

Before joining the Red Sox, he spent eight seasons with the Seibu Lions of the Japanese Pacific League and was named the most valuable player of the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.

"I wasn't doing anything new," Matsuzaka said. "It was something I had done last year, so I'm not expecting a dramatic change to come out of it.

"I'm hoping for gradual improvement over time. Right now, it's too early to tell if that change made all the difference."

David Ortiz smacked four hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs for the Red Sox (22-10), winners in six of their last seven games and 10 of 13.

Julio Lugo homered with three runs batted in, Manny Ramirez homered with two RBIs and Mike Lowell had three hits, including a homer.

"When you get offence from all over the place — one through nine — that certainly helps," Francona said.

Overbay homers twice in loss

Lyle Overbay homered twice and Alex Rios had four hits with an RBI for the Blue Jays (13-20), losers of eight straight games.

"It is frustrating because we are not that bad," Overbay said. "This is about as low as it can get."

Toronto hasn't lost nine in row since April 24-May 3, 2002, but a shakeup could be imminent because it trails Boston by 9½ games in the American League East Division.

"We will have something to say on that later in the week," Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said.

Asked if his job might be in jeopardy, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons replied: "What is going to happen is going to happen. I still like the ball club and I'm still in charge of it."

Ohka (2-4) was charged with three runs on six hits and five walks with two strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings pitched.

Ohka, who broke in with the Red Sox in 1999, has already faced his former team three times this season, losing 4-1 at Toronto on April 18 and winning 7-3 at Boston on April 23.

"Every game is the same," he said. "I just try to win the game."

Ohka issued three walks in the first inning, but permitted just one run on Ramirez's RBI groundout before escaping the jam by retiring Varitek on a pop fly.

Eric Hinske walked to lead off the second inning, hustled to third base when Ohka misplayed Dustin Pedroia's bunt, and scored on Lugo's RBI groundout.

Pedroia advanced to third on the play and Ortiz delivered him with an RBI double to make it 3-0.

Scott Downs, who hadn't allowed an earned run all season, relieved Ohka in the sixth inning and promptly surrendered a single to Pedroia and a two-run homer to left by Lugo, his second of the season.

Two outs later, Ramirez whacked his sixth homer into the left-field seats to make it 6-0.

After Overbay lined his fourth homer over the right-field wall in the bottom of the inning, Ortiz replied with a two-run jolt to right off reliever Josh Towers in the eighth.

It was Ortiz's ninth homer this season.

"He actually gets a lot of hits taken away with that big shift," Lowell said. "But you cannot shift someone into the stands."

Lowell walloped a solo homer to left off Towers in the ninth to make it 9-1 before the Blue Jays struck for two runs in their final at-bat.

Overbay hit his fifth homer to straightaway centre off reliever Joel Pineiro and Rios singled in Aaron Hill, who had doubled.

With files from Sports Network