BOSTON — Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is donating $1 million to the team’s official charity for victims of the earthquake and tsunami in his native Japan.

The team said Friday the right-hander’s gift to the Red Sox Foundation will be sent to the Japanese Red Cross Society to aid response to the March 11 disaster.

Boston’s other Japanese pitchers — Hideki Okajima, Junichi Tazawa and Itsuki Shoda — also have made personal donations and joined Matsuzaka, team captain Jason Varitek and others in collecting donations from fans at two spring training games in Florida.

The Red Sox Foundation has raised more than $1.3 million for relief in Japan.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is donating $1 million to the team’s official charity for victims of the earthquake and tsunami in his native Japan.

The team said Friday the right-hander’s gift to the Red Sox Foundation will be sent to the Japanese Red Cross Society to aid response to the March 11 disaster.

Boston’s other Japanese pitchers _ Hideki Okajima, Junichi Tazawa and Itsuki Shoda _ also have made personal donations and joined Matsuzaka, team captain Jason Varitek and others in collecting donations from fans at two spring training games in Florida.

The Red Sox Foundation has raised more than $1.3 million for relief in Japan.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka donated $1 million to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami in his Japanese homeland, the team announced Friday.

“Our efforts on the field are dedicated to all who are suffering from this catastrophe,” Matsuzaka said in a videotaped message released by the Red Sox earlier this month. “We are in this together, so we must overcome tragedy together.”

Fellow Japanese Red Sox pitchers Hideki Okajima, Junichi Tazawa and Itsuki Shoda also made donations. In total, the Red Sox said they raised $1.3 million for the relief effort, which includes Matsuzaka’s sum.

“Red Sox fans share a common language with the people of Japan through our shared love of baseball,” Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said, via a news release. “We are grateful for the many gifts Japan has given to our team and to baseball here in the United States. We are proud of our veteran pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka who, through this extraordinary donation also shows he is a charitable champion.”

Earlier this month, Matsuzaka, Jason Varitek and other Red Sox staffers stood at the gates of City of Palms Park before a spring training game collecting donations from fans.

A native of Tokyo, Matsuzaka is making his donation to the Japanese Red Cross through the official team charity of the Boston Red Sox, the Red Sox Foundation. The donations will go to support the Japanese Red Cross Society’s relief efforts.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka realized something was wrong when he awakened Friday morning and saw the number of missed calls and e-mails that were on his phone.

He then learned, he said, of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck northeastern Japan and spawned a tsunami.

“It was definitely shocking waking up and hear the news,” Matsuzaka said. “Once I turned on the television and saw what was going on, it was very shocking, very scary to see that.”

Matsuzaka said he has been in e-mail contact with his family and numerous friends, all of whom reported they were safe, though they reported some damage. “My parents are fine,” Matsuzaka said.

Pitcher Hideki Okajima also reported that his family was safe. Mikio Yoshimura, the team’s Japanese media liaison, said he also checked with pitcher Junichi Tazawa and new Japanese minor leaguer Itsuki Shoda, a left-handed reliever, and they, too, said their families were safe.

Matsuzaka and Okajima’s immediate family members — wives and children — are all in the United States.

Matsuzaka’s parents live outside Tokyo, about 200 miles south of the area most directly affected, while Okajima’s parents are in Kyodo, well south of the area directly hit. Matsuzaka said the relatives he was most concerned about were on his mother’s side, including his grandmother, many of whom live in Aomori, which is in the northern Tohoku region. Matsuzaka said he had not yet been able to contact them.

Phone contact was very difficult, he said, though he had more success with e-mail.

“There’s no time to alert people,” he said of the earthquake, “which is what makes it so difficult and scary.”

Okajima is scheduled to pitch out of Boston’s bullpen Friday.

Gordon Edes covers the Red Sox for ESPNBoston.com.

Follow Gordon Edes on Twitter: @GordonEdes