BOSTON, Mass. -- Justin Masterson continued to pitch well at his old ballpark and Jacoby Ellsbury was nowhere to be found in the ninth inning Thursday night, which could only mean good things for the Indians.

Masterson allowed three runs on five hits in six innings as the Indians beat Boston, 7-3, at Fenway Park. He's 3-0 with a 1.95 ERA against Boston since they traded him to the Indians for Victor Martinez on July 31, 2009.

The Indians won the season series, 6-4, against Boston and cut Detroit's lead in the AL Central to three games. The Tigers lost to Texas, 5-2, Thursday afternoon.

In his career at Fenway Park, Masterson is 10-2 with a 3.57 ERA.

Masterson (9-7, 2.63) struck out nine, including four in the second inning, and walked one on a season-high 118 pitches.

The Indians won the first and last game of the series. In between they lost 3-2 and 4-3 decisions when Ellsbury beat them in the ninth inning with consecutive game-winning hits.

Carlos Santana gave the Indians a 5-3 lead with a booming two-run homer in the sixth off Franklin Morales (0-1). It was Santana's 16th homer, but just his second batting right-handed. The drive to deep left-center field followed Travis Hafner's double off the top of the wall in center.

Santana, after striking out four times Wednesday, went 3-for-4 with two RBI.

Hafner's RBI double in the seventh made it 6-3. Hafner, not moving well on a sore foot, was replaced by pinch-runner Lonnie Chisenhall. Pronk went 3-for-4 with two doubles.

Kosuke Fukudome added an RBI double in the ninth. Fukudome, in his best game since the Indians acquired him from the Cubs, went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

Masterson pitched his way out of trouble in the sixth when rookie second baseman dropped a potential double play feed from third baseman Jason Donald to put David Ortiz on second and Carl Crawford on first with one out. Masterson retired Josh Reddick on a liner to left and struck out Jason Varitek.

The Indians bullpen, beaten in the ninth inning Tuesday and Wednesday, protected the lead Thursday. Vinnie Pestano pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Tony Sipp, making his fifth appearance in the also six games, retired the last two batters in the eighth. Chris Perez, in need of work, pitched the ninth.

In the third, Santana scored Asdrubal Cabrera on a bloop single to right for a 3-2 lead against lefty Erik Bedard, making his first start for Boston since being acquired in a deadline deal on Sunday from Seattle. Kipnis kept the inning going when he took out Dustin Pedroia with a clean hard slide at second on Cabrera's potential inning-ending double play grounder to short.

Hafner singled Cabrera to third and Santana delivered him for the lead.

Reddick made it, 3-3, with a two-out homer off Masterson in the fourth. It was just the fifth homer Masterson has allowed this season, four by left-handed hitters. Masterson entered the game with the lowest percentage of homers allowed per nine innings in the AL at .24 homers per nine innings.

Boston took a 2-0 lead against Masterson in the first. Ellsbury started the game with a single and scored on Adrian Gonzalez's double off the Green Monster in left center field.

Ortiz scored Gonzalez on a single to right.

In the second, Masterson struck out four straight. No, the rules of the grand old game haven't change. It's still three outs to an inning, but Reddick started the inning by striking out and reaching first on a wild pitch. Masterson proceeded to strikeout the next three Red Sox.

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It's the sixth time in franchise history that an Indians pitcher has struck our four batters in one inning. Chuck Finley was the last to do it on April 16, 2000 against Texas.

The Indians tied the score, 2-2, with two runs in the second. Santana and Fukudome hit consecutive singles with one out. Santana went to third and Fukudome advanced to second on a throwing error by Reddick in right field.

Matt LaPorta sent a grounder to first that Adrian Gonzalez had trouble fielding. To make matters worse, Bedard didn't cover first as Santana scored, Fukudome went to third and LaPorta was credited with an infield single.

Austin Kearns delivered Fukudome with the tying run on another grounder to first. This time Bedard did cover the bag for the out.

Jason Donald, starting at third, sent a sharp single to left. LaPorta was waived home from second, but was cut down at the plate on good throws from Crawford and third baseman Kevin Youkilis.

Bedard allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings. He struck out five and didn't walk a batter on 70 pitches.

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