Braves’ bats heat up, burn Red Sox

Kenshin Kawakami pitched six innings of two-hit ball and got big support from Nate McLouth and Garret Anderson in the Braves’ 8-2 series-opening win against the Boston Red Sox and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Elise Amendola / AP

Kenshin Kawakami outdueled fellow countryman Daisuke Matsuzaka as the Braves topped the Red Sox.

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McLouth homered on the first pitch of the game, and the Braves never looked back on the way to their second win since a four-game losing streak. Anderson added three hits and four RBIs as the designated hitter.

“Obviously there were some balls [from Matsuzaka] that were hittable, and we jumped on them and hit some balls good,” said manager Bobby Cox, whose Braves have scored 15 runs in two nights, after totaling 11 in their four-game skid.

“We went up swinging; we didn’t go up taking tonight, and we had a great pitching performance from our guy,” Cox said.

Kawakami (4-6) limited the Red Sox to two runs and three walks in six innings for his first win in five starts, and relievers Peter Moylan, Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez combined for six strikeouts in three perfect innings to complete the two-hitter.

Kawakami outpitched his more celebrated (and far richer) countryman in a game shown in Japan. He had a shutout until Jason Bay’s two-run homer in the sixth.

“With all the Japanese fans watching, I didn’t want to pitch bad,” Kawakami said through an interpreter. “A lot of [Braves] teammates said, ‘This is a Japanese battle, so don’t lose to him.’ I felt their support, and had good run support. I felt like I couldn’t lose.”

Anderson’s last four-RBI game was against Boston in September, with the Los Angeles Angels. He has a .321 average and 58 RBIs in 69 games at Fenway, more games that the rest of the Braves roster combined.

“A lot of other guys in the lineup hit the ball tonight, too,” said Anderson, downplaying any comfort level at the ballpark.

The Braves are hardly the first team to beat up on Matsuzaka (1-5), who was booed by the sellout crowd as he left without recording an out in the fifth inning. He was charged with six runs and eight hits.

The performance by Kawakami was encouraging for the Braves. It was the 33-year-old rookie’s first win since he pitched eight scoreless innings to beat Toronto ace Roy Halladay on May 22.

This was his highest-profile start since, and Kawakami came through with dozens of members of the Japanese media on hand to chronicle the event.

It was the second official matchup of Japanese starters in major-league history, after Matsuzaka faced Toronto’s Tomo Ohka in 2007. Kawakami also faced Matsuzaka in spring training, outpitching him in a Braves win.

The Red Sox entered Friday with the best home record (23-9) in the majors, but Matsuzaka is 0-4 with an 8.55 ERA in four starts at Fenway.

The Braves ambushed him in the first inning, McLouth’s homer starting a spree of three hits on Matsuzaka’s first four pitches. After a Yunel Escobar single and a Chipper Jones double, Brian McCann drew a walk to load the bases.

Anderson walked to bring in the second run of the inning, before Matt Diaz struck out and Casey Kotchman hit into a double play. But the Braves got more chances in the game and capitalized, unlike so many other nights.

Two runs scored in the fourth on McLouth’s double and Escobar’s single, Matsuzaka left after doubles by McCann and Anderson to start the fifth.

McLouth is 4-for-9 with two homers and six RBIs in his past two games, after hitting .240 with one homer and two RBIs in his first 12 games for the Braves.

After losing two of three at Baltimore and again at Cincinnati, the Braves could change the complexion of this three-city swing in Boston.

They send ex-Boston ace Derek Lowe (7-4, 4.08 ERA) to the mound Saturday in his first start at Fenway since he leaving the Red Sox after helping them win the 2004 World Series. He’ll face Josh Beckett (7-3, 4.15 ERA), who’s 4-0 with a 0.58 ERA in his past five starts against Atlanta.