Josh Beckett is now the first Red Sox pitcher to win his first eight decisions since Roger Clemens went 14-0 in 1986, despite missing time with a torn flap of skin on his middle finger.

That’s pretty good company.

"It's not about one player. It's not about one pitcher," first baseman Kevin Youkilis said to reporters after his homer helped Beckett return from the disabled list and win his eighth consecutive decision, a 4-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.

With Beckett’s return and Jon Lester pitching a rehab assignment after recovering from cancer treatment, it is looking like the Red Sox rotation is only getting stronger as the rival Yankees continue to flounder.

Lester had a strong outing for Triple-A Pawtucket, throwing five scoreless innings and appears ready to rejoin the team soon to bolster an already strong rotation.

"Early on I struggled with my mechanics and had to battle through a couple of innings but as the game went on everything got a little tighter and a little better," said Lester, cancer-free since December after undergoing chemotherapy to treat lymphoma, to reporters. "We want to get better every start and get the pitch count up. This time it just happened to be the curveball that worked well. Next time, it may be the changeup or the fastball."

Beckett pitched seven innings of three hit ball, facing the minimum number of hitters through the first six innings. He allowed two runs in the seventh. He also struck out seven.

"He looks like a guy who hadn't missed a game," Indians manager Eric Wedge said to reporters. "We were hoping to make him work a little harder and maybe get him out of there a little earlier, but he had it all going tonight."

Youkilis continues to be red hot, as he doubled and homered -- his ninth consecutive multihit game, the most by a Red Sox batter since Jim Rice in 1978. Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 21 consecutive games, raising his batting average from .280 to .358 during that span.

The Indians did little to help their own cause as pitcher Jeremy Sowers (1-5) pitched 5.2 innings giving up six hits and four runs, two coming off home runs.

"They basically don't have a flaw in their lineup, so your margin of error is small," Sowers said to reporters after the game. "You try to keep yourself out of jams where you're giving up consecutive hits. I thought I did a decent job of that, obviously I could have done a better job of keeping the ball in the ballpark."

Indians shortstop Jhonny Peralta singled and Designated hitter Travis Hafner tripled him home in the seventh. Hafner would score of Victor Martinez’s groundout to make the score 4-2. Beckett would strike out former Red Sox Trot Nixon for the final out of the innings, ending the Indian threat.

Hideki Okajima continues to be devastating out of the bullpen as he would pitch the ninth for his fourth save of the season. His ERA is 1.05 while his WHIP is an astonishingly low .88.

While he was overshadowed by the signing of Daiske Matsusaka in the off-season, Okajima has been as valuable to the impressive start by the Red Sox as anybody.

The Red Sox were able to continue their winning ways without slugger David Ortiz. Ortiz was out of the lineup for the third straight game while resting a “barking” hamstring. He will return on Wednesday night according to manager Terry Francona.

"We don't need Papi," Youkilis said jokingly. "Save him for the playoffs. If we need a big hit, a walkoff, we'll bring him in."