CLEVELAND (AP) – Ben Broussard drove in a career-high eight runs and the Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox 15-3 Thursday night, handing Josh Beckett his first loss with his new team.

Broussard homered twice and went 4-for-5 as Cleveland got to Beckett (3-1) for six hits and eight earned runs in 3 2-3 innings. It was Beckett’s first loss since Aug. 28 when he was with the Florida Marlins.

Broussard hit the first pitch he saw from the right-hander for his third homer of the season and fourth career grand slam in the first inning. It was the first grand slam allowed by Beckett in 638 career innings.

Broussard opened the third with a 421-foot shot down the right-field line for his fifth career two-homer game.

Paul Byrd (3-2) pitched five innings as Cleveland won the final two games of a three-game series. Boston has lost five of its last seven.

Mike Lowell had an RBI double and David Ortiz a pair of run-scoring singles for the Red Sox.

Broussard’s two-run, bases-loaded single off Julian Tavarez in the sixth put Cleveland ahead 11-2 and gave Broussard a .368 (14-for-38) career average and 47 RBIs when hitting with the bases loaded.

Broussard added an RBI single in Cleveland’s four-run seventh to become the first Indians player with eight RBIs since Manny Ramirez on Sept. 24, 1999, at Toronto. The club record is nine by Chris James on May 4, 1991, at Oakland.

Broussard, platooning with right-hander Eduardo Perez at first base, is hitting .489 (23-for-47) against right-handers with four homers and 17 RBIs. Perez is hitting .346 with three homers and 10 RBIs against lefties.

Beckett, the key part of a seven-player trade with the Marlins last November, walked five and struck out six. It was the third time in his career that he gave up three homers – including his last start April 21 against Toronto.

Beckett had allowed just eight earned runs in 28 1-3 innings before Thursday.

Byrd gave up five hits and two runs, walking one and striking out four.

Notes: Beckett’s nine runs allowed were the most by a Boston starter since Derek Lowe gave up nine on June 29, 2004, at Yankee Stadium. … Cleveland has a major league-high 142 runs in 22 games. … Indians DH Travis Hafner walked a career-high four times, seeing 21 pitches. … LF Jason Michaels struck out all three times up against Beckett on only 11 pitches. … Ramirez went 0-for-3 against Byrd and is 0-for-9 in his career against the right-hander.

AP-ES-04-27-06 2242EDT

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