It was Boston’s most exciting comebacker since Keith Foulke gloved Edgar Renteria’s grounder for the final out of the World Series victory by the Red Sox in 2004.

Matsuzaka made another good play to end the seventh — and his night — when he scooped up shortstop Julio Lugo’s low throw to complete a double play on his 102nd pitch.

But he gave up a run in the second on a single by Jose Guillen, a double by Kenji Johjima and a sacrifice fly by Yuniesky Betancourt. The other two runs scored in the fifth on an RBI double by Adrian Beltre and an RBI single by Jose Vidro.

“It was a night when there was no room for error,” Boston manager Terry Francona said.

Hernandez lost his no-hit bid when he couldn’t get his 86th pitch of the game past Drew, who has hit safely in all eight games since signing a $70 million, five-year contract as a free agent.

Hernandez dominated the Red Sox just one day after they had battered the Mariners 14-3 with 14 hits in Seattle’s first game after snow in Cleveland caused four days of postponements.

Special report A look at top baseball free agents-to-be

“He had everything going on tonight. He was just impossible,” Boston’s David Ortiz said.

As a rookie, Hernandez had a 2.67 ERA and 4-4 record in 12 starts. He was 12-14 with a 4.52 ERA, last year, lost weight during the offseason and on opening day struck out 12 and allowed just three hits in eight innings of a 4-0 win over Oakland.

“He lives up to his hype,” said Red Sox reliever Joel Pineiro, who played for Seattle last season.

And he doesn’t get rattled by strong offenses.

“The Red Sox are not chopped liver,” Hargrove said.

In his debut last Thursday, Matsuzaka struck out 10 and allowed one run, one walk and six hits in seven innings of a 4-1 win over the Royals. Before Wednesday’s game, fans cheered when he walked to the bullpen to warm up.

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos

He paused, holding his cap over his chest, when blues singer Susan Tedeschi sang the U.S. national anthem from behind home plate. When she was done, she turned around to face the field, showing the back of her shirt with the name “Matsuzaka” and his number “18.”

In the stands, a fan held a Japanese flag with some extra writing on it: two dice, one with one dot on it and the other with eight dots, and the letter “K,” symbolizing Matsuzaka’s nickname, “Dice-K.”

Notes: In Japan, Johjima was 32-for-118 (.271) against Matsuzaka. ... Drew’s eight-game hitting streak is his longest to start a season. ... Suzuki is 0-for-8 in the series with four strikeouts.