BOSTON — Daisuke Matsuzaka has only had one solid start for the Red Sox this season.

Unfortunately for Boston, Sunday was not that day.

Texas jumped all over Matsuzaka early and often, forcing him to the sidelines after 5 2/3 innings, though he nearly came out in the third before he was able to work his way out of a jam.

Over the first three innings, Matsuzaka gave up seven hits and four runs to put the Red Sox in a hole that they were not able to climb out of. Texas (33-23) survived Boston’s rally and posted a 6-3 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 37,537 at Fenway Park.

Boston’s loss, coupled with the New York Yankees’ 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay, knocks the Red Sox out of first place in the A.L. East. The Yankees (33-23) now lead the Red Sox (33-24) by a half a game.

Matsuzaka gave up five runs on 10 hits.

“Facing their hitters, I made some fundamental mistakes,” Matsuzaka said. “I wasn’t able to vary my approach, and I think that led to a lot of wasted pitches.”

It wasn’t all bad for Matsuzaka. He did strike out eight batters and he didn’t walk any.

“Today’s velocity was probably the best we’ve seen,” Boston manager Terry Francona said of Matsuzaka’s pitches. “There were some swings and misses on that fastball. I think the hope is, as he continues to pitch, that [he] progresses.”

Matsuzaka struck out three of the four batters he faced in the first inning. The other hitter in the first, Michael Young, the same player who broke up Lester’s bid for a no-hitter on Saturday, crushed a home run to right field to give Texas a 1-0 lead.

“He got hurt with some pitches that are harder to place,” said Boston catcher Jason Varitek, who said he called a lot of cutters and sliders for Matsuzaka “It’s just one of those things. They have a pretty good hitting lineup and, if you make those mistakes, they can do some things.”

It didn’t get much better for Matsuzaka in the second. Texas racked up three hits, including Omar Vizquel’s RBI single to left that scored David Murphy.

In the third, Murphy crushed a two-run double to center field to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead.

But Boston did not go down without a fight.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the third inning and scored two runs on Jacoby Ellsbury’s hard grounder up the middle, slashing the Rangers’ lead to 4-2.

Texas second baseman Ian Kinsler got a glove on the ball, but couldn’t stop it from going into center field. Mark Kotsay and Varitek both scored on the error, Dustin Pedroia advanced to third base, and Ellsbury, who would leave the game in the sixth inning with a shoulder strain, sprinted all the way to second. Kevin Youkilis walked to load the bases again, but Texas starter Vincent Padilla (seven innings, four hits, two earned runs, four strikeouts) struck out Jason Bay and got Mike Lowell to ground out to second base to end the inning.

“It all centered around Padilla going out there and pitching well and keeping those guys over there off balance,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “He did a great job of doing that throughout the game. Not too many people can do that to those guys.”

Kotsay hit his first home run of the season in the fourth inning for the Sox to make it a one-run game, but that’s as close as Boston got.

“He knows how to play and he’ll give you everything he has,” Francona said of Kotsay.

Nelson Cruz pushed Texas’ lead to 5-3, when he hit a two-out triple to deep center field, and then scored on a Matsuzaka wild pitch. Cruz then crushed a 2-1 Hideki Okajima pitch over the Green Monster in left field in the top of the seventh inning to extend the lead to 6-3.

“If we were able to get a little offense going, we were still in that game,” Varitek said. “We just weren’t able to get it going offensively.”

Matsuzaka is now 1-4 with a 7.33 ERA. Part of Matsuzaka’s problem this season could be attributed to his offseason schedule. He took part in the World Baseball Classic, helping Japan defend its title by going 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in the tournament. But it meant he was away from the Red Sox training programs. He was put on the disabled list on April 15 with a strained right shoulder after his first two starts of the season.

“I think he’s still to some part trying to figure himself out again right now,” Varitek said.

Since the start of the 2008 season, Matsuzaka leads the A.L. and ranks eighth in the majors with a .232 opponents' average. But opponents are hitting .373 against him this year.

“I don’t think Daisuke is far off,” Varitek said. “He missed a little time. I’m not making an excuse for him, but I think that his stuff is getting better.”

The Red Sox will have a day off Monday to prepare for a homestand against the Yankees beginning on Tuesday.