If form would have followed most of Matsuzaka’s starts this season, that exit would have come in the fifth inning. But thanks to the combination of improved command and the free-swinging Seattle Mariners, he left in the eighth and it was little work for the bullpen duo of Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon to clean up the minor mess and secure a 4-2 win for the Red Sox on Tuesday at Safeco Field.

“When your starting pitching gets you that deep, it certainly helps,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.

And facing a Mariners lineup content with getting its hacks in no matter what the pitch or its location also helped the Red Sox pitchers.

After being shut out Monday, the Mariners (38-62), who suffered their fourth straight loss, appeared well on their way to being blanked again Tuesday.

And there was no better example as to why than the bottom of the fourth inning.

With Boston (58-43) holding 1-0 lead thanks to a J.D. Drew solo home run in the first inning off Seattle starter R.A. Dickey, the Mariners had a chance to at least tie the game or take the lead.

Raul Ibañez drew a leadoff walk from Matsuzaka on four pitches. Designated hitter Jose Vidro put together a solid at-bat, working Matsuzaka for eight pitches and a full count before lining a single to center. With runners on first and second and nobody out, the Mariners seemed poised for a big inning. But it ended in just two pitches. Adrian Beltre swung at the first offering from Matsuzaka, a fastball inside and off the plate. The pitch jammed him and he hit a meek roller to second that Dustin Pedroia fielded and turned into a 4-6-3 double play. The next batter, Jeremy Reed, had the same approach, swinging at the first pitch – a cut fastball away – grounding out to third.

Two swings, two outs, inning over.

“He was really good,” Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said of Matsuzaka. “Again, we end up talking about how the other guy threw, night after night, but they did. These last few nights we faced some tough pitching.”

Riggleman believed it was more a matter of Matsuzaka having better command than his players showing a lack of patience.

“He’s throwing strikes,” Riggleman said. “He has four or five pitches and he was throwing them all for strikes. It’s not going to do you any good to sit and take strikes.”

It’s tough to tell if that was the case because the Mariners didn’t take many strikes.

But what made the bottom of the fourth hurt more was the Red Sox putting up three runs on Dickey in the top of the fifth, thanks to two sacrifice flies and an RBI double by Mike Lowell.

“They’re a good team,” Dickey said. “They’re like the Oakland A’s but with power. The know the pitch they want to hit and they work the count to get it.”

Four runs isn’t impossible to overcome, but the Mariners simply haven’t been scoring runs in recent games.

Seattle had gone 18 innings without scoring before Bryan LaHair and Ichiro Suzuki stopped it in the eighth inning.

LaHair, who was called up just after the All-Star break, notched his first major league hit, stinging a Matsuzaka change-up into right.

“It felt unbelievable,” LaHair said. “A lot of weight came off my shoulders on that one.”

For LaHair, a native of Worcester, Mass., getting his first big league hit against the team he grew up rooting for made it even sweeter.

Even Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis was wise to the situation.

“He said it must feel that much better to do it against the Red Sox,” LaHair said. “That was pretty cool of him.”

LaHair scored his first big-league run moments later when Ichiro lashed a double to center. Lopez drove in Ichiro to end Matsuzaka’s day.

But it was too little, too late.

In contrast to several of his starts this season – including a five inning, eight-walk outing against Detroit – Matsuzaka’s outing – 7 innings, two earned runs on five hits, with six strikeouts and three walks – was a stark improvement.

“He made it harder with his command,” Francona said.

Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483

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Boston at Seattle, 1:40 p.m., FSN, 1000-AM

 • MRI results show Erik Bedard has no structural damage in his pitching shoulder. C4 Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus will be inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame on Sunday. Send us your testimonial or favorite Niehaus memory via e-mail (sports@thenewstribune.com">sports@thenewstribune.com) or fax (253-597-8360). Also weigh in on our Mariners Insider blog (thenewstribune.com/Mariners). We’ll publish some of your responses in the Sunday sports section.