The game didn’t start until 9:30pm because of a rain delay and it didn’t end until just shy of 2am. Lester took the mound for the first time since before the All Star Break. All in all, Lester looked healthy and pretty gosh darn good. He was on an 85 pitch count and he looked pretty gassed when taken from the mound in the 6th. Lester only gave up one run and left the game with the Sox and Royals tied 1-1. Lester’s line was 5.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 2 BBs, 6 Ks.
The game went into extras and the Sox just couldn’t get this one done. They had numerous chances to win this game, but botched every single one of them. In the bottom of the 9th, Navarro was on 3rd with one out, but Crawford strikes out swinging. In the 11th, with Gonzo on 2nd and two outs, Crawford strikes out swinging again. In the 12th, Josh Reddick got 3rd with a throwing error and there was just one out. Unfortunately, Scutaro missed the suicide squeeze call and Reddick was caught between 3rd and home and was out. Scoot ended up getting a single…and then was thrown out trying to stretch it to 2nd. In the 13th, Ells was on 3rd with one out and then Navarro popped out and Papi ground out. So, you can’t say the Sox didn’t have chance after chance to win this game.
The Royals ended up scoring two runs in the top of the 14th off Randy Williams. At this point, John Lackey was out in the bullpen and would be the next guy in the game if this game were to continue. You can not like John Lackey, however it is getting and harder to not call him a team player. I’m happy we didn’t need to use Lackey, even though we lost…but I was really happy to see him going up to Tito in the dugout and offering up his services.
The Sox weren’t able to do much against the Royal’s closer Soria and the Sox fell in the bottom of the 14th.
The silver lining. Jonny Lester is back and looked good.
Red Sox 1 Royals 3 BOXSCORE
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