But it was effective, as the Mariners scored only one run.

Matsuzaka handed a 2-1 lead to the bullpen then watched it vanish, as the Red Sox were beaten, 4-2.

Afterward, Matsuzaka questioned the decision by manager Terry Francona to take him out of the game.

“I was certainly ready to go out for another inning,’’ Matsuzaka said via interpreter Masa Hoshino. “There isn’t a lot you can do when you’re told you’re coming out of the game. I, for one, was ready to go back out there.’’

Matsuzaka allowed only four hits and struck out four. But what hurt the righthander, and gave Francona little choice but to replace him, was his pitch count. Matsuzaka threw 86 pitches through the first four innings as the Mariners made him work.

Seattle fouled off 16 two-strike pitches over the course of his six innings as Matsuzaka struggled to put hitters away.

Had Matsuzaka been able to get through seven, the Red Sox could have used Daniel Bard to get to closer Jonathan Papelbon.

Instead, Bard pitched the seventh and, after allowing a single by Jose Lopez to lead off the eighth, was replaced by Hideki Okajima. The lefthander allowed five hits in a row to toss away the lead and drop the Red Sox eight games out of first place, their largest deficit since May 23 when they were 8 1/2 games back.

“His stuff was good,’’ Francona said of Matsuzaka. “The walks don’t help. He had to pitch out of a lot because of the walks. He has the ability to do that. His stuff was real good; it was real crisp. But he created some messes with the walks.’’

As the Red Sox struggle to stay in contention, Matsuzaka is doing his part. The righthander has allowed only four earned runs on 12 hits in his last three starts, a span of 18 2/3 innings.

“He looks like he’s pitching with confidence,’’ Francona said. “From time to time he’ll lose the strike zone.’’

Matsuzaka left a runner stranded on third base in the first inning. Seattle put two runners on with one out in the second, but Matsuzaka worked out of that jam as well.

The tightrope he lives on wobbled a bit in the third inning.

Chone Figgins doubled to left field with one out before Franklin Gutierrez walked. With the runners in motion, Lopez grounded a single into left field. Figgins scored and Gutierrez went to third.

Justin Smoak, the power hitter Seattle obtained from Texas for ace lefthander Cliff Lee, popped to shallow center. Casey Kotchman then walked to load the bases. But Matsuzaka got Michael Saunders on a fly ball to left to end the inning.

After a clean fourth, Matsuzaka walked Figgins to lead off the fifth. But he worked around that mistake as well.

With Matsuzaka at 102 pitches, Francona had Scott Atchison warming up in the sixth. Kotchman, the leadoff hitter, took a half swing at a 2-and-2 fastball and poked it down the third-base line. He tried for a double and was thrown out by Jeremy Hermida.

Matsuzaka stayed in the game and retired the next two hitters on two pitches as Saunders flied to left and Rob Johnson to center.

Matsuzaka stayed in front of the dugout after jogging off the mound to bump fists with Hermida.

“I did what I could to give our team a chance to win,’’ Matsuzaka said.

Matsuzaka answered only three questions after the game, none that were particularly prodding. After discussing his ability to retire Ichiro Suzuki all three times he faced him, a sullen Matsuzaka turned and walked away.

“That’s it for today,’’ he said.

Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @peteabe.