BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) – Now, those are the results the Red Sox hoped for when they invested $103 million in Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Matsuzaka hoped for more.

In the best outing by a Boston pitcher this spring training, Dice-K dominated – one run, one single, one walk and one standing ovation. In 5 2-3 innings, he struck out seven and the Red Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 on Wednesday.

Matsuzaka fanned the Pirates’ best hitter, Jason Bay, twice on a total of seven pitches and went to three-ball counts on only four of his 20 batters.

But his overview of the outing was “that I was able to pitch despite struggling a little bit,” he said through an interpreter. “I was having a little bit of trouble controlling my fastball.

The wind may have contributed to that.

“If that’s struggling, we’re in for some fun,” manager Terry Francona said. “I think he’s a perfectionist.”

In Matsuzaka’s next to last spring start in Florida, he finished strongly when he struck out Don Kelly after the Pirates shortstop had stayed alive by fouling off six of the previous seven pitches.

The Red Sox posted the winning bid of $51.11 million for the right to negotiate with the Japanese star. Then he agreed to a six-year, $52 million contract.

In his first two starts, he allowed three hits in five scoreless innings. In his third start, last Friday, he allowed one run and three hits to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ first four batters then retired the next five.

He never pitched in the third because a downpour forced cancellation of the game. He threw 34 pitches and 77 more in a simulated game in a batting cage after the game was called.

On Wednesday, he threw 92 pitches, 62 for strikes.

The only problem he had with the weather was the wind, which turned his straight fastball into a “shooto cut,” he said, the Japanese name for a pitch that breaks to the right, like a screwball.

“I generally don’t consider that shooto cut to be a problem,” Matsuzaka said, “so I was just compensating appropriately.”

He started by hitting Chris Duffy with his second pitch of the game. He retired the next two batters on grounders, moving Duffy to third. Adam LaRoche then looped an RBI single in front of a sliding right fielder J.D. Drew, the only hit off Matsuzaka.

“I’d like to say he’s going to have some challenges along the way,” LaRoche said, “but maybe he won’t.”

Matsuzaka then struck out Bay, starting a string of 11 batters he retired before he walked Nate McLouth with one out in the fifth, but McLouth was stranded at first.

The MVP of last year’s World Baseball Classic started the sixth by getting Duffy to fly out, then won a 12-pitch confrontation with Kelly. With the count 2-2, Kelly fouled off the next four pitches. After another ball, he fouled off two more. Then he tipped Matsuzaka’s final pitch of the game, a changeup, into Jason Varitek’s glove for a strikeout.

Francona, Varitek and the four infielders then met at the mound and Matsuzaka strode off, doffed his cap and bowed as the crowd stood and cheered.

“It’s fairly rare for one to receive a standing ovation upon being taken out of a ballgame in the middle of an inning,” Matsuzaka said. “So, as happy and as grateful as I was, at the same time I was a little bit embarrassed. I wasn’t sure exactly how to respond.”

He came out only because he had reached the pitch limit set for him.

“From the middle of the second inning on, his fastball location continued to improve, he held his velocity throughout,” pitching coach John Farrell said. “The one thing we’ve all seen each time out, he’s very unpredictable in his pitch selection.

“He’ll throw any pitch to either a right-hander or a left-hander.”

Ronny Paulino had to be happy to see Matsuzaka leave. He greeted reliever Manny Delcarmen with a solo homer that cut Boston’s lead to 4-2. But the Red Sox scored three runs in the seventh off Jim Brower.

Matsuzaka’s pitching, though, was the highlight of the game.

“When he’d fall behind in a count he’d come back with an offspeed pitch for a strike that’s not down the middle of the plate,” Francona said. “He commands so many different pitches.”

Matsuzaka is scheduled to throw about 90 pitches Monday against Cincinnati and about 60 in the final preseason game March 31 at Philadelphia.

Then the Kansas City Royals will try to hit him when he starts his first regular-season game April 5.

“Everything you talk about pitching, that’s what he does,” Francona said. “And he can throw the fastball by you when he wants to.”

Notes: Drew continued his strong spring by going 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. He’s batting .464. … Pittsburgh starter Tom Gorzelanny allowed four walks, four hits and four runs – two on Drew’s single off reliever Dan Kolb – in 4 2-3 innings.

AP-ES-03-21-07 1820EDT