CHICAGO -- Ryan Dempster knows the trade talk is out there. But he's doing a pretty good job of focusing on pitching.
Dempster tossed seven shutout innings, allowing four hits, as the Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Red Sox 3-0 Friday at Wrigley Field.
The 35-year-old right-hander is in the last year of his contract, and he is aware the Cubs may want to move him to help in their rebuilding efforts. Dempster has 10-and-5 rights and can veto any trade, but he has indicated he'd listen if the right situation were to come up.
"I'm not naive, I'm not oblivious to what's going on," he said. "But it's really kind of, not out of my control, actually it really is in my control. It's one of those things if I focused on that and I worried about that, I wouldn't be doing a very good job as a teammate to those guys in there, and I wouldn't be doing a very good job for myself if I wasn't focusing on what I need to do.
"Right now, I'm here. I love being here. Everybody knows that I love the city of Chicago and playing for the Cubs and trying to do the best I can."
Dempster, who has been a hard-luck pitcher all year, evened his record at 3-3 and lowered his ERA from 2.31 to 2.11. He outpitched Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-2), who was making his second start of the season after recovering from last year's Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.
The Red Sox (31-33) had a mini two-game winning streak snapped as they were trying to reach the .500 mark.
The Cubs (22-42) broke on top 2-0 in the first inning, drawing three walks against Matsuzaka. Tony Campana led off with a walk, and he stole two bases in the inning. Also drawing walks in the inning were Alfonso Soriano and Bryan LaHair.
That set the stage for a two-out double to left field by Chicago catcher Steve Clevenger.
"The first inning obviously wasn't good," said Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine. "I don't know if it was the wind, or whatever it was, but he didn't have good command of his fastball. They hit the foul line on that fly ball (by Clevenger) for a couple runs, but after that he was pretty good. He gave us six innings. Might have gotten a little careless with the pitcher on one of the pitches, but other than that he was pretty good."
The Cubs added a run in the second. With one out, Dempster tripled to right field as Adrian Gonzalez tried to make a sliding catch, only to see the ball roll past him. It was the second triple of Dempster's career, the first coming in 2002 when he was a member of the Florida Marlins.
After Campana grounded out and Starlin Castro was hit by a pitch, David DeJesus singled to right field to score Dempster.
The Red Sox threatened several times against Dempster, but they left eight runners stranded over the seven innings Dempster was in the game. Dempster walked two and struck out three, throwing 106 pitches.
"You always get frustrated when you have good at-bats and don't get anything to show for it," Valentine said. "Salty's (Jarrod Saltalamacchia) had a bunch of them, Dustin's (Pedroia) had a bunch of them, Youk's (Kevin Youkilis) had a bunch of them."
James Russell pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Cubs, and Carlos Marmol earned his first save since May 2. Marmol had lost his closer's job, but manager Dale Sveum said he has improved enough and has been throwing his fastball enough to get his old role back.
Marmol loaded the bases before getting Dustin Pedroia on a game-ending force out.
"A couple days ago, we kind of thought about it and told him he's done everything we've asked him to do with his side sessions and his work," Sveum said. "He's been throwing his fastball more. It's not the greatest, but we all know Marmol anyway. It's kind of par for the course anyway."
NOTES: The Red Sox said after the game that they have scratched right-hander Josh Beckett from Sunday night's scheduled start. Beckett has right-shoulder inflammation and will get it checked out. Left-hander Franklin Morales will make the start instead. ... Sveum said he would consider keeping three catchers on the roster after Geovany Soto comes off the disabled list, most likely Monday. The Cubs are going with Clevenger as their everyday catcher in Soto's absence with rookie Welington Castillo backing him up. Sveum likes Clevenger's left-handed bat. "We're going to talk about it this time," Sveum said. "We'll just see what happens. But we'll definitely talk about it a little more." ... Red Sox outfielder Daniel Nava, who has been bothered by a sore left hand, took batting practice and pinch hit in the ninth inning, getting called out on strikes. He has not played since June 10, and he took a cortisone shot. ... Youkilis was back in the Boston lineup as the third baseman after being a lineup scratch Wednesday because of sore ribs. ... This is the Red Sox' first visit to Wrigley Field since 2005. The teams played last year at Fenway Park.
