Projo Sox Blog

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON _ After a depressing two-game losing skid to the Yankees, Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell said late Saturday night he was expecting Jon Lester to come up big in the series finale.

That's exactly what Boston's southpaw did.

The Sox' starting pitcher was, once again, outstanding as he worked seven innings and allowed two runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts to give Boston a much-needed spark en route to a 9-2 victory Sunday night at Fenway Park.

After the game, the always-humble Lester didn't want the focus to be on him.

"You just try to go out and execute pitches," he said. "All you can do is pitch your game and not worry about losing two in a row. You can't worry about all the other distractions, you just have to go out and pitch and hopefully you can get some runs early and hold them. We were able to do that tonight."

It's the second time in less than a month Lester has dominated the Yankees. On July 3 in the Bronx he pitched a complete-game shutout where he surrendered only five hits. He stopped the Yankees again Sunday night.

"It's a good feeling," he said. "It's definitely a confidence booster anytime you can get a couple of wins against that lineup. It was definitely a team effort tonight. Guys swung the bat really well, and (Jacoby) Ellsbury made a couple of great plays in the outfield. It just seemed like a different atmosphere in the dugout (Sunday) night. Guys were laughing and having fun, and seemed like they were going up to the plate more relaxed and were putting good at-bats together."

In nine starts following a Red Sox loss this season, Lester is 5-1 with a 1.28 ERA. He has allowed only nine earned in 63 1/3 innings during that stretch. He's also limited opponents to two or less earned runs 13 times in 22 starts this season.

The man is clearly locked in.

Physically, mentally and emotionally Lester is bigger and clearly has more confidence this season.

"He's really been good," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "We used to tell him 'Jon, you're a 6-foot-5 left-handed pitcher, so go run the game.' It looks to me that is what he's doing. Sometimes an umpire might miss a pitch, or someone might hit a pitch that he doesn't think they should, he gets the ball back and he goes and pitches. His stuff is so good and it's getting better."

Lester has been pounding the strike zone with his repertoire of fastball, cutter, curveball and change-up with authority and he hasn't backed down from any hitter. He has kept the opposition at bay on a consistent basis.

"He ought to be tough and confident," said Francona. "He's durable and he feels pretty much the same every start. That's the one thing we all have been hanging our hats on in the organization for some time, is that's the type of pitcher he'll always be. He's got a good delivery and he's a big strong kid."

Lester has a unique aura about him this season. Francona said he can't, and won't, pinpoint the exact moment everything just clicked for Lester, but the manager knows what the club is getting is exactly what it has been waiting for.

"I know a pitcher will hang their hat on a lot of different things," said Francona. "Whatever they use, I don't care. Whether it's 'me versus the world, or I'm not getting the respect' I don't care. Just go out and find a way to be better than the other team."

Lester has done just that.

Unlike the previous two games against the Yankees, the Red Sox gave their starting pitcher some early run support.

Boston three runs in the bottom of the first inning thanks to an RBI single by Manny Ramirez and a two-run single by Mike Lowell for a 3-0 advantage.

The Sox pushed across another run in the second inning on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly, before Jason Varitek provided a RBI single in the third as Boston gained a 5-0 lead.

Lester continued his dominance and the offense kept adding on to its lead.

In the fourth inning, David Ortiz crushed a two-run homer into the right-field seats to give the Sox, and Lester, a 7-0 cushion. The shot was Ortiz's first since May 31 at Baltimore - the same day he injured his wrist and spent the next 45 games on the DL - and first at Fenway since May 18.

"David looked liked he felt good at the plate," said Francona. "That's a good feeling for us."

The Yankees finally got to Lester in the top of the fifth inning when they loaded the bases on consecutive singles by Melky Cabrera, Jose Molina and Johnny Damon before Derek Jeter hit a slow roller down the third-base line that stayed fair. Sox third baseman Mike Lowell could not make a play and everyone was safe as New York plated its first run.

The Yankees weren't done.

Lester issued a no-out, bases-loaded walk to Bobby Abreu to give New York its second run before Lester was able to get Alex Rodriguez to line out to Lowell for the first out of the inning.

Lester's pitch count was over 80 pitches at this point, so reliever Manny Delcarmen began to warm up in the bullpen. Fortunately, Lester kept the damage to a minimum and recorded the last two outs with the bases still juiced. The left-hander threw 29 pitches in the fifth.

"It was a tough inning," said Lester. "They battled and that's what the Yankees do. Early on I made some mistakes to Melky and Molina where I left the ball up and gave up a couple of hits. I just kept grinding and tried to execute pitches."

Those runs snapped Lester's consecutive scoreless innings at 11 1/3.

He retired the side in order in the sixth, and just for good measure, Boston added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning for a 9-2 lead. Ortiz provided a sacrifice fly and Ramirez added his second RBI of the game.

Lester was stellar again in the seventh as he retired the side in order and was done for the night after 113 pitches.

In the end, Lester proved he is no longer an ace in the making. He is an ace.

 Tags  Jon Lester Red Sox

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