BOSTON — The win was what counted most.

Accentuate the positive, that’s what the Boston Red Sox wanted to do after they nearly blew all of a nine-run sixth-inning lead before bouncing back and subduing the Toronto Blue Jays, 13-10, last night at Fenway Park.

And certainly there were plenty of positives to go around.

The top two in the batting order, rookies Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, were a combined 5-for-5 with a walk, two runs scored apiece and a pair of RBI (from Pedroia) by the end of the fourth inning, at which point the Red Sox boasted a 10-1 lead.

Throw in the fact that also over that span, Mike Lowell, taking injured Manny Ramirez’s place in the cleanup spot, hammered a three-run homer in the first inning and was credited with an RBI when a ground ball he hit was botched.

Also, give credit to Ellsbury, playing left field, for his diving catch in left-center that robbed Frank Thomas of a game-tying hit, ending the Jays’ sixth-inning carnage at eight runs.

And also credit the offense for absorbing the Jays’ sixth-inning explosion that turned a 10-1 laugher into a 10-9 nail-biter and responding with three runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 13-9 lead that was good enough to hold off Toronto.

“It was kind of an ugly game. I’m just glad we won,” said Pedroia.

“At 10-1 it was a cakewalk,” said Lowell. “You don’t want to let those games get away.”

Ah, but it almost did, and that is where some nagging doubt crept into what had been another festive night before yet another sellout (36,639) crowd.

That uneasiness, at least in the stands, was generated by Daisuke Matsuzaka. The right-hander couldn’t stop the bleeding in the sixth and, thanks to some ineffective relief from Javier Lopez, he wound up being charged with seven earned runs in only 5 1/3 innings.

The good news was that at least the previously run-starved Matsuzaka picked up a victory, snapping his three-game losing streak. But a look at Dice-K’s numbers over his last four starts is rather unsettling.

Matsuzaka has permitted at least five runs in three of those starts, topping out at the seven he gave up last night. His earned-run average over that stretch (he’s 1-3) is 7.61.

Last night his line showed 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings, including a three-run homer to Troy Glaus that cut Toronto’s deficit to 10-5 in the sixth.

But to listen to the Red Sox after the game, you would have thought Matsuzaka was working on a masterpiece and was done in only because the Baseball Gods were working against him. Not all of the balls were crushed in the inning, but he faced seven batters in the inning and gave up five hits and a walk.

“In that big inning it started with a walk to (Matt) Stairs and then there was a bloop to center (Alex Rios) and then Frank (Thomas) hits the swinging bunt (an RBI chopper) off Dice-K’s glove,” said manager Terry Francona. “Then the home run. Glaus had a great at-bat.”

“He was throwing the ball better than his results,” said Sox catcher Jason Varitek. “He had some misfortune.”

Matsuzaka, meanwhile, said similar things when asked about the sixth when, after finally being given some runs to work with, he couldn’t get an out when he needed one.

“Certainly there were a few bad breaks in a row. I thought I pitched well enough to cover those bad breaks, but since I wasn’t able to, that led to that big inning,” said Matsuzaka, who had been given two runs or less in 12 of his previous 17 starts.

Of course, the recent swoon begs the question of whether Matsuzaka might be getting tired. The Sox have been trying to give him extra rest — his last three starts and four of his last five have come with extra days between outings. It hasn’t seemed to have helped all that much. Last night, he was done after 98 pitches.

In 10 starts since the All-Star break, Matsuzaka has thrown seven innings only three times. He has not been the workhorse some might have expected, with the Sox keeping his pitch count down wherever possible. He has not thrown more than 113 pitches in any post-break start. Before the break he had four starts of between 120 and 130 pitches.

“I personally don’t think (fatigue) is a problem,” said Matsuzaka.

skrasner@projo.com