The Red Sox just came off a strong start from Clay Buchholz and would need the same from Jon Lester in order to inch closer to being above 500. Lester got run support early, but he also just completely dominated the A’s lineup for 8 strong innings. The Sox finally put it all together and guaranteed them a series win.
Before Jon Lester could really get on his strong roll, the Sox offense gave him some runs to get comfortable with. In the bottom of the 1st inning the Sox already had A’s Milone on the ropes with the bases loaded and no outs. Napoli would end up striking out, but Jonny Gomes would get the job done with a grand slam homer to put the Sox ahead 4-0. The Sox would add another run in the 3rd when Papi hit a solo lead off HR. Sox 5-0. David Ross got into the HR party himself in the 4th inning with a solo HR. Sox 6-0.
The offense was sure clicking, but that wasn’t the story of the game. Jon Lester was just a dominant force on the mound. He was striking out batters left and right all game long. Lester topped his previous K record in a game of 13 and then surpassed it. Lester took the mound in the 8th inning and after walking the first batter, he struck up the next 3 batters to put an exclamation point on his outing. Lester’s line for the night was 119 pitches, 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB and 15 Ks. Lester never let the A’s hitters get comfortable in the box and looked in top notch form. It was a joy to watch him out there this afternoon.
Lester was done after 8 innings and it looked like the A’s really enjoyed getting a look at someone else on the mound. Chris Capuano took the mound for the 9th and struggled for the first time in a Sox uniform. Cap gave up 2 hits and then a 2 run RBI hit to let the A’s on the board. Sox 6-2. Capuano hit Donaldson with a pitch and his outing was over before he was able to secure an out. Koji Uehara came in the game to save the game and Lester’s gem of a start. Koji issued a walk to load the bases and then got a ground ball that could have been a double play ball, but after he went home, David Ross made an errant throw to Mike Napoli that allowed another A’s run to score. Farrell and Napoli were making the case that the errant throw was because of runner interference, but the umpires were not interested in their take on the play. Sox 6-3. No problem though because Koji got a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning without any more damage.
Red Sox 6 Athletics 3 BOXSCORE
WP: Lester (3-4) LP: Milone (0-3) SV: Uehara (7)
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