Halladay

BOSTON — Paul Byrd is not going to blow any pitches past any hitters.

The one thing he will do, though, is throw strikes.

So two things tend to happen when he pitches.

The defense behind him is on its toes because he works at a quick pace and they can anticipate a strike being thrown, increasing the likelihood each pitch will be hit.

The second is that the opposition will be swinging early in the count. It’s counterproductive to try to work the count against Byrd because you’ll be hitting 0-and-1 and 0-and-2 all night, hardly counts that are conducive to success.

Those two qualities were on display last night.

The Sox played crisp defense behind Byrd.

For instance, second baseman Dustin Pedroia twice was able to make sparkling plays, leaping for one line drive and going back on a soft liner in right-center. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury ran down a ball in deep center in the sixth and J.D. Drew raced to right-center for a catch of a liner in the seventh.

The aggressiveness of the Jays’ hitters, meanwhile, led to three one-pitch outs for Byrd in the sixth inning, though Adam Lind lofted a solo homer on a 2-and-0 pitch with one out in the inning.

“It’s fun playing behind him with his rhythm,” said Pedroia of Byrd. “Playing defense is easier.”

Byrd threw 96 pitches in his 7 1/3-inning Red Sox debut. He did not win, touched up for a two-run homer by Alex Rios in the first, Lind’s homer and Vernon Wells’ broken-bat RBI single in the eighth.

But he gave Boston a quality, professional outing, which bodes well down the stretch for the Sox.

Blue Jays’ Halladay stays in the zone

Roy Halladay, a Cy Young winner in the past and seemingly a contender for the award every year, is so confident in his abilities, he doesn’t mind working around a hitter, even if it does move a runner into scoring position.

In the first inning, with David Ortiz at first and two outs and the Blue Jays leading, 2-0, Kevin Youkilis came to the plate. Youkilis is one of the league’s hottest hitters, with nine homers and 30 RBI over his last 28 games and a .367 hitter over his last 18 games. Youkilis also was a career .361 hitter against Halladay.

Halladay did not challenge Youkilis. He tried to make nasty pitches on the corners, unconcerned about walking Youkilis with Drew on deck. And he did walk Youkilis, pushing Ortiz into scoring position. It was only Halladay’s 32nd walk in 183 innings.

Drew was a career .412 hitter against Halladay, but he has hit a mere .215 over his last 43 games. So Halladay went after Drew. And the Jays’ right-hander won the matchup, though with a sigh of relief because Drew sizzled a liner to center that was caught by a sliding Wells.

Halladay, like Byrd, was around the strike zone all game, as is his custom. As a result, he had the Red Sox swinging early in the count and solid defense behind him. The Jays turned three doubles play, and third baseman Marco Scutaro stole a hit from Youkilis with a diving catch of a liner.

Halladay threw only 111 pitches in notching his major-league-leading eighth complete game.

And while the Sox ended up on the short end of the score, Boston pitching coach John Farrell appreciated the Byrd-Halladay duel.

“Both guys epitomize pitching,” said Farrell. “They work quick, throw strikes, change speeds. They prepare a game plan and they’re physically prepared. That’s why you look up and see it’s a 2:10 (actually 2:18) game.

“They gave a lesson for young pitchers on both sides to witness a game like that,” said Farrell, referring to the quick pace. “There’s a reason there were so many good defensive plays.”

Toronto’s Rios is in the swing

Interesting pitch sequences by Byrd to Rios.

In the first inning, Byrd threw back-to-back changeups. He left the second one up, and Rios clouted it for a two-run homer over the Green Monster in left-center.

The next time Rios came to the plate was the third inning.

Byrd’s first pitch? A changeup.

As a hitter, you hardly expect to see the same pitch you just hit out for a homer. Maybe later in the sequence, but not the first pitch. Rios took it for a strike. The at-bat ended on the next pitch, an 88-mph fastball that Rios lofted to Ellsbury in center.

In the third confrontation, the three pitches Rios saw were 87-mph fastballs, the last of which he hit on the ground for an inning-ending forceout in the fifth.

They faced each other one more time. Byrd fell behind Rios, at 3-and-0 with one out and no one on in the eighth.

Byrd had not walked a batter in the game. Not walking batters is a matter of pride for Byrd, who had walked only 24 in 131 innings. Rios was looking fastball and that’s what Byrd served up — an 86-mph get-me-over let’s-not-walk-him fastball and Rios laced it off the center-field wall for a triple.

Watch your lead

Sometimes, you have to give the pitcher credit when he picks off a base runner. Not last night when Byrd picked off Joe Inglett, who got a little too greedy and daring in his lead.

Inglett led off the game with a single. As Byrd was pitching to the next hitter, Scutaro, Inglett edged off first base. Then he edged some more. Then Inglett, who had swiped seven bases in eight attempts this season, edged even more.

The problem for Inglett was that Byrd was watching him the entire time, holding the ball as he stood on the rubber in his stretch position.

Finally, as Inglett made one more little hop off, Byrd whirled and fired to first, picking off Inglett.

The pickoff proved important because Scutaro singled and Rios followed with a homer.

skrasner@projo.com