To say Lester has been struggling all season long would be a huge understatement. Lester hasn’t had a win since June 27th and both he and the ballclub were in desperate need of one today. Lester looked like that guy we have always known him to be and dominated the Indians lineup.
Lester gave up his one and only run in the bottom of the 1st inning. Lester gave up two singles to start the game and then Santana hit an RBI sac fly to give the Tribe their first run. It looked like it was going to another one of those outings from Lester. However Lester got the 2 outs and once he took the mound again in the 2nd inning, it was like a flip had switched and he was a different guy. Lester dominated the Indians from that point on and since the offense was giving him run after run, he had nothing to worry about. Lester didn’t let up though. Lester pitched 6 strong innings and along the way he struck out 12 batters. Lester’s line for the night was 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB and 12 Ks.
Not only did Lester look in fine form, but so did the offense. They got on the board early and often. The Sox bats scored 3 quick runs in the top of the 1st to give Lester a lead before he ever took the mound. Crawford hit a double to start the inning and then Pedey hit an RBI double to bring him home. Sox 1-0. Adrian Gonzalez hit his 13th HR of the season to give the Sox a 3-0 lead. Those three runs would be all the Sox would need, but it wouldn’t be all they would get. In the 2nd inning, Carl Crawford hit another double and scored Aviles and Ellsbury. Sox 5-1. In the 4th, Aviles got hit by a pitch and then scored on a Shoppach RBI single to bring the Sox to a 6-1 lead.
The 5th inning is when the Sox would take this game into full on blowout mode. The Sox would go on to score 8 runs in the inning. Ross hit an RBI single to score Pedey, Salty hit an RBI single to score Gonzo, Valencia hit a sac fly to score Ross, Ellsbury hit a 2 run RBI double, Crawford immediately followed with an RBI double and then Gonzo finished off the scoring in the inning with a 2 run RBI double of his own. By the end of the inning the Sox were leading 14-1 and had sent 13 batters to the plate. A good inning if I don’t say so myself.
After Lester left the game, the bullpen picked right up where he left off. Tazawa came out and pitched a scoreless inning in the 7th. He almost got himself into trouble, but was able to strike out Donald to end the inning. Clayton Mortensen pitched a scoreless 8th inning and then even had an at bat in the top of the 9th. The Sox ended up losing the DH when they moved Salty from DH to first base, so Mortensen found himself in the batter’s box. He struck out, but it didn’t really matter. Alfredo Aceves took the mound in the 9th to get some work in and had himself a nice, efficient 1-2-3 inning.
This win was all kinds of nice. I hope we see a lot more like them.
Red Sox 14 Indians 1 BOXSCORE
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