Angels pitcher John Lackey throws the pitch that Dustin Pedroia hit in the ninth inning to end his bid for a no-hitter.

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The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

BOSTON — John Lackey is a good pitcher. He has been for quite a while.

At least, he has been a good pitcher against virtually everyone in the American League but the Boston Red Sox, especially at Fenway Park.

The Angels right-hander entered last night’s game with a 1-4 career record and a 7.46 earned-run average against the Sox at Fenway. Boston had six players in its starting lineup last night who boasted career batting averages ranging from .313 to .480 against Lackey in a decent number of at-bats.

Lackey, though, finally showed the Sox in Boston what type of pitcher he is, hurling no-hit baseball until Dustin Pedroia smacked a breaking ball through the left side of the infield for a clean hit with one out in the ninth. Kevin Youkilis followed with a homer, ending Lackey’s shutout bid, but Lackey did finish with a complete-game 6-2 win.

“You guys keep bringing up the past,” said Lackey with a shrug. “Definitely there were some adjustments, but nothing I’m going to tell you all. I just wanted to get the win. The no-hitter would have been nice, but we’re all about wins.”

Angels manager Mike Scioscia was pleased for Lackey.

“That was routine the way he throws the ball” in other games, said Scioscia. “Finally, tonight he brought that game onto the mound in Boston. You’re not going to get a better pitched game than that, and against that lineup.”

Lackey said he felt more life on his fastball while he was warming up, and that was the pitch he basically stuck with through the first seven innings, along with sliders. Over that stretch, catcher Jeff Mathis said Lackey threw maybe three curveballs, including one that fooled David Ortiz on a 3-and-2 pitch in the fourth, resulting in an off-balance lazy fly ball to left.

In the eighth and ninth, Lackey and Mathis changed their pattern, starting off all three batters in the eighth with curveballs in a spotless inning. In the ninth, Lackey made Jacoby Ellsbury look foolish in striking him out with a curveball in the dirt leading off the inning. But Pedroia yanked an 0-and-1 pitch for his base hit.

“I gave up a hit on a curveball and that’s (generally) my best pitch, so I can accept that,” said Lackey.

It was tougher for the Angels to accept.

“Your heart drops a little bit,” said Scioscia. “You’re disappointed.”

“I don’t want to say crushed, but it was a tough feeling,” said Mathis. “I’d never been a part of something like that. I was trying not to shake so bad. I was really excited, especially against these guys in this park.”

Overall, Lackey threw 21 first-pitch strikes to the 32 batters he faced.

No one’s perfect

Even Gold Glovers make sloppy defensive plays every now and then.

Mike Lowell, one of the game’s best third baseman, elected to play Robb Quinlan’s routine bouncer to his left side instead of moving a half-step to his left to get in front of the ball.

He took his eye off the ball momentarily and had it clang off his leather and roll toward shortstop for an error, permitting Quinlan to reach base with one out in the third inning, the first Angel to get on against Clay Buchholz.

The miscue was just the seventh of the season for Lowell, but it opened the gates for an ugly two-run inning at the expense of Buchholz.

skrasner@projo.com