The Red Sox’ Daisuke Matsuzaka, following through on a pitch in yesterday’s home opener, had plenty of success by giving the Tigers a steady diet of fastballs.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

BOSTON — In the first inning, it was clear that Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka and catcher Jason Varitek wanted to establish the right-hander’s fastball.

Dice-K threw 19 pitches in the scoreless first, 18 of them fastballs, the majority of which were 90-91 mph.

The only pitch he threw that had a wrinkle to it was a 2-and-2 slider to Placido Polanco, one of the toughest players in the game to strike out.

Polanco clearly was fooled by the pitch, the seventh of the at-bat. Way out front, Polanco waved and missed the down-and-away 81-mph slider for a whiff.

Basically, Matsuzaka stuck with fastballs in his shutout, six-inning stint, either your basic variety or cutters. He threw very few sliders and curveballs. And while he rarely nudged his velocity over 90 mph, he was effective enough with his command to stay away from breaking balls.

Twice he fanned the Tigers’ cleanup man, Magglio Ordonez. Once Dice-K caught Ordonez looking at a fastball that painted the outside corner. Then, though he was tiring in the sixth, Matsuzaka sizzled an outside fastball at 90 that again painted the black. This time, Ordonez swung and missed with runners at first and second and one out in a 3-0 game.

Dice-K’s command began to elude him in the sixth. He loaded the bases with two outs on a walk and fell behind Carlos Guillen. Matsuzaka, however, came back and retired Guillen on a fly ball to shallow center on an 86-mph cutter.

With a 5-0 lead, manager Terry Francona allowed Matsuzaka to begin the seventh. Dice-K found his changeup in a whiff of Jacque Jones, but after a two-out walk, Matsuzaka was lifted. He threw 108 pitches.

skrasner@projo.com