TORONTO — Jonathan Papelbon is not perfect.

Last night he finally gave up a hit — a one-out ground-ball single up the middle by Aaron Hill in the ninth. And he walked his first batter — pinch hitter Gregg Zaun.

So out came pitching coach John Farrell with Sox ahead, 4-1, in the ninth and the tying run coming to the plate.

“He was jumping to the plate. A lot of guys do that,” said catcher Doug Mirabelli, relating how the conversation went on the mound.

“When you do that you end up dragging your arm. And Pap hadn’t pitched for a while, so he was a little stronger, a little more amped up than usual. Slowing him down let his arm do the work,” said Mirabelli.

It did the work in impressive fashion.

Pinch hitter Jason Smith saw high, hard ones, reaching 95, 94 and 96 mph on the Rogers Centre radar gun. Smith swung and missed each one.

Next was another pinch hitter, Adam Lind.

He fouled off a 95-mph heater, missed one at 96, took one at 95 for a ball, and when Papelbon finally deviated from his script, sending an 87-mph splitter diving to the outside corner, Lind was rung up for the game-ending strikeout.

Ortiz won’t be deterred

David Ortiz says that by now, he couldn’t care less if teams use extreme shifts on him. He doesn’t pay attention.

He’s done trying to change his swing to beat it.

“Before I tried to hit the ball the other way and it never worked. It changed my swing, my mechanics, and I need to have my mechanics to hit. I just see the pitch and hit it,” said Ortiz.

Last night he was robbed of a hit on a grounder basically to right field, but beat the shift with a homer to left-center and then fought off a pitch for a ground-ball single through the vacated shortstop position.

“I don’t get mad anymore,” said Ortiz of being deprived of hits because of the shift. “It would get worse for me if I thought about hitting the ball to left field.”

Okajima razor sharp

Lost a bit in the aftermath of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s outing in Toronto on Tuesday night was the performance of his Japanese countryman, Hideki Okajima.

The left-hander whiffed all three batters he faced in the eighth inning, showing an effective use of his changeup in punching out Gregg Zaun, Royce Clayton and Jason Smith.

The most important part of that outing was the fact that all three batters were right-handed (Zaun, a switch hitter, was batting right-handed). It showed Francona something. Most left-handed relievers tend to be one-batter, lefty-on-lefty specialists.

“With Okajima being left-handed and being able to get right-handers out has been a big plus for our bullpen,” Francona said yesterday afternoon. “That has a chance to really impact our bullpen.”

Francona was just as glowing in his praise of Okajima after the game Tuesday night.

“That changeup of his is a real weapon,” said Francona. “It’s a very good changeup, and if he can locate his fastball to go along with that changeup, he can be tough on right-handers.”

This season, Okajima has appeared in six games, totaling 6 2/3 innings. He has fanned eight, and has an earned-run average of 1.35, giving Francona more confidence in calling for him in any set-up situation.

Here and there

Mirabelli, who batted a mere .193 in 161 at-bats for the Sox last year, is 4 for 8 with two homers and four RBI in his last two starts. . . . The homer for Ortiz was the 178th of his Red Sox career, tying him with Nomar Garciaparra for 10th on Boston’s all-time list. . .  . Ex-Providence College star John McDonald, starting at third base in place of the injured Troy Glaus, made a sensational play on a bouncer to his left, taking a hit away from Julio Lugo. Right-hander Matt Clement (shoulder surgery) continues his slow progress. He has been playing catch from 120 feet . . . At least one matchup for the Yankee series this weekend has been solidified. Curt Schilling and Andy Pettitte will square off in the opener tomorrow night.

The injury-depleted Yanks have not yet listed their pitcher for the rest of the series.

skrasner@projo.com