Josh Beckett has won nine of his last 10 decisions, and heads for the All-Star break tied with Tim Wakefield for the league lead in wins.

AP photo / Michael Dwyer

BOSTON – Josh Beckett will always remember his 100th career win.

“It’s pretty memorable, the way I did it,” he said after pitching a complete-game, three-hit shutout against Kansas City, striking out seven – five in the first three innings – while walking none, although he did hit (barely) one batter.

Following a month of April he’d just as soon forget, Beckett has been almost unbeatable since then – especially at Fenway Park.

His domination of the Royals on a delightfully sunny Sunday afternoon upped his record at home this season to 6-0 in 9 starts, with an E.R.A. of 2.44. Over his last four starts at Fenway, Beckett is 4-0 with an E.R.A. of 0.59 – he’s allowed just two earned runs in 30.2 innings–– and he’s struck out 26 while walking only three.

Kansas City starter Bruce Chen walked that many in the first three innings Sunday, and the rest of the Royals who followed him to the mound struggled similarly. They couldn’t find home plate with the aid of Mapquest, a compass or a Sherpa guide. Not even a painted red line, like the one that leads tourists around Boston’s Freedom Trail, would have helped, as K.C. pitchers issued nine walks, twice hit Jason Bay, and – no surprise – had a wild pitch.

Beckett, on the other hand, was in complete control –– as he has been since a very un-Beckett-like first month of the season.

Following back-to-back shellackings by the Yankees (8 runs in 5 innings) and the Rays (7 runs in 4.2 innings) at the end of April, Beckett was 2-2 and had allowed 23 earned runs over 28.2 innings.

But once May rolled around, Beckett got on a roll and now has won 9 of his last 10 decisions. He’s heading for the All-Star Game in St. Louis tied for the league lead in wins with knuckleballing teammate Tim Wakefield, and having allowed more than two earned runs in just two of his last 11 starts.

Sunday’s whitewashing of the overmatched Royals was Beckett’s second shutout of the season. He also blanked the Braves, 3-0, June 20 at Fenway.

“He’s the Beckett we’ve come to appreciate,” Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He’s a good guy to lean on.”

Beckett was at his best Sunday.

“He was outstanding,” said K.C. manager Trey Hillman. “There wasn’t a lot we could do with him, to be honest with you.”

The Royals had just two chances to score, and Beckett shut ’em down both times to preserve his fourth career shutout.

After breezing through the first nine batters, Beckett allowed a leadoff double in the fourth to David DeJesus. With the Royals trailing only 1-0 at that point, Hillman called for a sacrifice bunt that advanced DeJesus to third.

Francona countered with a bit of defensive strategy – bringing the infield in – and the move paid off when Billy Butler hit a grounder to second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who, after holding DeJesus at third, threw to first for the second out. Beckett then got out of the inning by retiring Mark Teahen on a grounder to first.

The only other trouble Beckett encountered was in the seventh, when the Royals, trailing 5-0 by then, loaded the bases with one out. That threat ended with a 4-6-3 double play.

“We played good defense, which can cover up mistakes,” Beckett said.

The fact is, Beckett made very few mistakes.

“Oh, he was good,” Francona said. “He attacked the strike zone with his fastball. That was fun to watch.” But, said Boston catcher Jason Varitek, it wasn’t as easy as it appeared.

“Believe it or not, [Beckett] had to kind of battle a little bit in the middle innings,” Varitek said. “He had to make some adjustments. That lineup has been swinging the bat well. But he’s a bulldog.”

One of the keys to being a successful pitcher is the same as being a successful real-estate agent – location, location, location.

“I located my fastball pretty well whenever I was behind in the count,” Beckett said.

He wasn’t behind very often, throwing 66 of his highly efficient, and highly-effective, 94 pitches for strikes.

“He had a 15-pitch first inning,” Francona said. “After that, he had 6, 7, 9, 11. He worked ahead and stayed out of the middle.”

As a result, the Sox were ahead from the first inning on and stayed out of trouble – a welcome relief after seeing a 9-1 lead Saturday night shrink to 9-7 before they were able to pull away again, 15-9.

“After a night where we used a lot of pitching,” Francona said, “to have him come out and throw like that is great.”

jdonalds@projo.com