BOSTON — When asked before last night’s game about the development of left-hander Kason Gabbard, Red Sox manager Terry Francona issued this scouting report.

“His offspeed stuff is very improved,” said Francona.

The Kansas City Royals noticed. They couldn’t hit his curveballs or changeups, nor could they lay off them, either, which helps explain Gabbard’s three-hit, 4-0 shutout of the Royals last night.

Gabbard threw 107 pitches. Of those 107 pitches, only 50 of them, unofficially, were fastballs. And he doesn’t exactly blow away the opposition with any of his heaters.

His fastball topped out last night at 89 mph, when he overthrew a pitch to Tony Pena Jr. in the eighth inning. For the most part, he was consistent with fastballs around 84-88 mph.

Making his fastball look even faster were his offspeed pitches. He was throwing his changeup around 78-81 mph, and his curveball in the 77-78 mph range.

Smartly following the pitch-calling of catcher Jason Varitek, Gabbard was able to make the left-handed hitters look silly with down-and-away curveballs, and he had the right-handed hitters feebly and ineffectively chasing his changeups, which he was able to spot on the outer half of the plate and even off the black.

Perfect examples of these strategies occurred in the ninth inning, with the crowd of 37,099 roaring, rooting for the rookie to claim his shutout.

The first batter of the inning was David DeJesus, a left-handed hitter. With Varitek expecting the Royals to be taking the first pitch, he had Gabbard throw a fastball, and Gabbard poured it in for a strike. DeJesus took it. Then there were three straight curveballs, with DeJesus flying out to center on a 1-and-2 pitch.

Mark Grudzielanek, a right-handed batter, was next. He staged a six-pitch battle with Gabbard, which Gabbard won, enticing Grudzielanek to strike out, flailing at a high-and-wide 81-mile-an-hour changeup. Mark Teahen was no match for Gabbard, fanning on fastballs.

“We’d never seen him before,” said Kansas City manager Buddy Bell. “He threw offspeed stuff with purpose. I thought it was pretty good (stuff). The guy deserves a lot of credit. He did a nice job.”

Whatever works

The double-play was hardly of the ordinary variety, but the Red Sox turned it beautifully.

With a runner at first and none out in the fourth, Grudzielanek hit a chopper to Dustin Pedroia. Boston’s second baseman charged the ball and fielded it in the path of the runner, DeJesus.

DeJesus had to stop, or he would have run right into a tag. Pedroia started after DeJesus, but saw Grudzielanek racing to first, so he threw the ball to first baseman Kevin Youkilis for the out there, knowing DeJesus was hung up and the Sox had a chance to get him out, too, in a rundown.

When Pedroia threw to first, DeJesus started running to second. Youkilis, meanwhile, quickly got rid of the ball after recording the out at first, and made a perfect throw to shortstop Julio Lugo at the second-base bag. The throw was right where it needed to be as DeJesus slid in head-first. DeJesus basically tagged himself out, sliding right into Lugo’s glove.

Drew is on watch

Is J.D. Drew passive at the plate, or just plain picky?

In his five plate appearances, including one in the third when he was left in the box as Lugo was picked off first base for the final out of the inning, Drew saw 22 pitches. He swung at only five of them.

In the first inning, Drew, batting leadoff, watched the first five pitches go by. Then, with the count 3-and-2, Drew got the bat off his shoulder and grounded out to second. He looked at all three pitches (2-and-1) in his next at-bat before Lugo was picked off.

In the sixth, Drew watched all six pitches go by, taking a called third strike on the 3-and-2 pitch. The pitch, to be fair, looked a tad low.

In the eighth, Drew watched the first pitch, which was outside, and then lined the next one into right for a single.

Lugo on fire

The worm certainly has turned for Lugo.

For a long time, Lugo couldn’t buy a hit. On the rare times he’d hit the ball hard, the ball would find a fielder’s glove. And when he blooped one, it didn’t find any grass, either.

All of that added up to his celebrated 0-for-33 slump.

Now, the buzzard’s luck that circled Lugo has gone away, replaced by good fortune. It seems as if Lugo is getting a hit no matter how well or poorly he hits the ball, as his luck begins to even out.

For instance, two games ago he dropped down a bunt for a hit. On Sunday he broke his bat on a swing and the ball dunked into right field for a single. And last night, in his first at-bat, he received a charitable call from first-base umpire Greg Gibson in notching an infield single.

Lugo hit a ball in the shortstop hole. Pena made a nice pickup and strong off-balance throw, and replays indicated the throw nipped Lugo by a half-step. But he was called safe.

It was Lugo’s eighth hit in the fifth game of the homestand. He had only seven hits in the month of June.

Well, maybe Lugo still has a bit of buzzard’s luck left in him. In the fifth he hit a bouncer that looked like it went over the third-base bag in fair territory before landing foul, which would have made it a base hit. But third-base umpire Tony Randazzo called it a foul ball. Lugo wound up whiffing in that at-bat.

He’ll never learn

Two hands.

How many times has that been preached to Little Leaguers learning the fundamentals of the game. Use two hands to catch the ball.

Kansas City left fielder Emil Brown apparently needs a refresher course.

Mike Lowell lofted the first pitch of the fifth inning to Brown. He settled under the ball and nonchalantly reached up for it with his glove, keeping his throwing hand at his right side. And, embarrassingly, Brown dropped the ball.

The ball hit the heel of his glove and fell to the ground. Brown made a stab for the falling baseball with his bare hand, but it was too late. If he had had the bare hand next to his glove when the ball hit the leather, he would have been able to secure it for the easy out.

Brown, apparently, didn’t learn his lesson. He settled under a high fly in shallow left-center in the sixth and stuck up just his glove hand for the ball. This time he made the catch.