DeJesus homered on Matsuzaka’s second pitch of the sixth. Estaben German followed with a single, and Matsuzaka’s shoulders seemed to droop, and pitching coach John Farrell visited the mound. German was caught stealing as Teahen took a called third strike, Brown doubled off the left-field wall, but Gordon took a called third strike, the first of three straight strikeouts.

“Major league hitters, after you go through the order once or twice, get a bead on you, and he didn’t let them,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. He started throwing different pitches on different counts. He came back in the sixth and seventh and was good as he was early.”

DeJesus joked about the famed “gyroball,” a pitch Dice-K may or may not throw.

“I think it was the gyroball,” he laughed when asked what he hit for the home run. “No, it was a fastball. I didn’t think it was going to go, but the ball kept carrying.”

Matsuzaka, who wasn’t satisfied with his spring-training performances, threw 74 of 108 pitches for strikes. The 26-year-old right-hander, 108-60 with a 2.95 ERA and 1,355 strikeouts for Seibu, did not have to face two of Kansas City’s top hitters: Mike Sweeney and Mark Grudzielanek were given the day off following a night game.

J.C. Romero and Jonathan Papelbon finished, with Papelbon striking out two of three batters for his first save.

Zack Greinke (0-1), who missed almost all of last season due to social anxiety disorder, struck out seven in seven innings, allowing two runs and eight hits.

Manny Ramirez had an RBI double in the first, and Julio Lugo doubled in the fifth, stole third and scored on catcher John Buck’s throwing error.

Boston added two runs in the eighth on Joel Peralta’s wild pitch with a runner on third and Coco Crisp’s RBI single, his first hit in 10 at-bats this season.

Notes: Gordon, the Royals’ top prospect, had been 0-for-8 until he singled leading off the fifth. He also let a grounder get under his glove at third for an error. ... The media contingent was the biggest the Royals saw at home since the seventh game of the 1985 World Series.

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