Matsuzaka rocked by Cardinals on return from DL

Sunday 22nd June, 04:46 PM JST

BOSTON —

Daisuke Matsuzaka made a nightmare return from the disabled list Saturday, taking his first loss of the season after getting rocked in the Boston Red Sox’s 9-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Back on the mound after recovering from a strain in his rotator cuff, Matsuzaka (8-1) got tagged for seven runs in one-plus inning, the shortest outing of his career in the major leagues. Matsuzaka, who gave up six hits while walking three and striking out one, was relieved with no outs and the bases loaded in the second inning.

By contrast, Matsuzaka’s compatriot Masahide Kobayashi (4-3) enjoyed a successful day on the mound as the Cleveland Indians reliever picked up his fourth win of the season. Kobayashi struck out two in a scoreless 10th before six runs in the 11th gave the Indians a 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Elsewhere, Kosuke Fukudome extended his hitting streak to a personal-best six games in the major leagues in going 2-for-5 with an RBI in the Chicago Cubs’ 11-7 win against the Chicago White Sox. Ichiro hit for the eighth game in a row with a pair of singles in the Seattle Mariners’ 5-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves while Hideki Matsui went 1-for-3 but the New York Yankees were blanked 6-0 by the Cincinnati Reds.

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9 Comments

some14some at 05:32 PM JST - 22nd June

Matsuzaka: Save his reputation and put him back to DL. Lesson for MLB if you want better J-pitcher pls pay more than $52M !
pathat at 05:48 PM JST - 22nd June

Well, they did make a total investment of $103 million in him over 6 years when you include the posting fee.

We`ll find out very soon if there is something more to his recent arm woes than a rotator cuff strain.
westurn at 09:00 PM JST - 22nd June

"Lesson for MLB if you want better J-pitcher pls pay more than $52M !"

Ummm, for example ???
wilbur at 09:30 PM JST - 22nd June

some14some, you make it sound like he was stolen away from japanese baseball, when in fact he wanted to go to the MAJOR LEAGUES to play against REAL BALL PLAYERS
westurn at 09:56 AM JST - 23rd June

Listen up all, no surprise here ! Matsuzaka's minor league rehab stint, in my opinion, was less than stellar. I mean he gave up three hits and two runs against a buncha wannabes in a mere 5 innings ! He shoulda been able to hold them hitless and scoreless in that amount of time on the mound.

The real question now is, how bad is his arm ? We saw this at the end of last season when he had to be sat down during the pennant race because of "tired" arm. So he we are, not even at the all-star break and once again intitial reports were... tired arm ! Seems someone is not telling the whole truth here. Maybe it's time to go back and look at the video. Remember the "five foot" pitch he threw earlier in the season ? It wasn't much after that that he developed this arm problem. In any case it doesn't look good as the season is now in jeopardy. I expect the Bosox brass to ponder their next move very carefully. The fact is Boston was doing just fine without Matsuzaka (they won again today without dicy). Why risk another championship season just to sell tickets to Japanese fans ??? Send Dice K down to "Double AA" for a bit maybe he can find himself "there".
HoDeDo at 01:17 PM JST - 23rd June

Go Cards!
thepossum at 10:47 PM JST - 23rd June

Did I read that right, 7 runs in one plus inning ? What a meltdown ! And to think, just before game time he was telling everybody he was ready to go. Go alright, maybe back down to the minors for more rehab.
knucklerap at 06:10 PM JST - 28th June

Maybe next time, they should bring pitchers back from the D.L. with a short relief stint. That way it's easier to yank them when they get in trouble. That game really wrecked his e.r.a.
knucklerap at 06:11 PM JST - 28th June

No way they can send him down now with Schilling gone for good.