BOSTON — Jake Arrieta certainly picked two of baseball’s most historic places to put on memorable performances.

Arrieta held the Red Sox hitless until Stephen Drew singled with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Red Sox 2-0 on Monday night in the opener of only the second series between the teams at Fenway Park since 1918.

Six days after losing a perfect game on a leadoff single in the seventh inning of his previous start at Wrigley Field against Cincinnati, Arrieta took his no-hit bid a little deeper at Fenway. He allowed only Mike Napoli’s fifth-inning walk before Drew lined a sharp single to right.

“It’s special to do it in this ballpark,” Arrieta said. “It was special to do it last week in Wrigley and to do it here in these two parks is pretty special.”

Starting the season on the disabled list with shoulder tightness, the 28-year old right-hander was pushing his pitch limit before Drew lined a 2-2 pitch.

Arrieta (5-1) was lifted by Cubs Manager Rick Renteria immediately following the hit that came on his career-high 120th pitch.

The 28-year-old Arrieta was given a loud ovation before he even got to the foul line, tipping his cap to the Boston crowd. He tipped it again after crossing the line.

“Something like that in Fenway is pretty rare for an opposing team, so yeah I got some goose bumps there,” he said. “That’s why you play this game, for moments like that.”

Arrieta fanned 10 in just his 11th start of the season.

“Awesome. That was some kind of awesome,” Renteria said of the ovation.

Drew’s hit ensured the Red Sox wouldn’t be no-hit for the first time since Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio pitched a no-no against Boston in 1993 for Seattle.

Hector Rondon allowed a pinch-hit single to A.J. Pierzynski leading off the ninth before finishing the two-hitter for his 10th save.

Nate Schierholtz hit a two-run homer for Chicago.

Jake Peavy (1-7) is winless in his last 12 starts. He gave up two runs on five hits, walking two and striking out seven in six innings.

In just the second regular-season series at Fenway between the clubs since Boston won the 1918 World Series in six games, Arrieta mixed his pitches by combining a sharp cutter and curve with an above-average fastball.

“He located everything. He’s got great stuff,” Boston’s Dustin Pedroia said. “He kept every pitch out of the zone.”

The Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Welington Castillo walked and Schierholtz followed with his homer into Boston’s bullpen.

NOTES: Carlos Zambrano pitched the Cubs’ last no-hitter, in 2008. … Cubs senior vice president of scouting and player development Jason McLeod told reporters on the field before the game that he withdrew his name from consideration for the San Diego GM job.