RESULT – WIN 5-0
Lester was as good as he’s been in years last
night at Fenway Park. He threw a
no-hitter five years ago and has had his fair share of good games but last
night’s one-hit shutout over the Blue Jays was brilliant.
Jon Lester retired the first 17 batters he faced but lost the no-hit bid in the sixth with a two-out line drive double. Then he retired the next 10 in a row. It was his 10th career complete game and 3rd career shut-out. His final line was 9 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks and 5 strikeouts.
He threw 118 pitches on the night and seemed to
rely mostly on his cutter and two-seam fastball. The 118 pitches were a season high but it
gave the bullpen a much needed day off.
Jon was able to get threw 2 innings with 7 pitches or less. He was brilliant on the mound Friday night
and I believe he is officially back.
Having John Farrell has seemed to make a world of difference for Lester.
On the other side of the ball, the Sox offense
was patient and though they started slow they had a huge 4-run 7th
inning to seal the game. The Sox banged
out 5 runs on 10 hits and walked 5 times.
Shane Victorino was on base 4 times (2 for 3 with 2 walks), Will
Middlebrooks had 2 doubles, and Saltalamacchia had 2 hits.
Dustin Pedroia had 2 hits and an RBI and Daniel
Nava knocked in 2 runs. The only 3 Sox
hitters without a hit on the night were David Ortiz who went 0 for 3 and is now
hitless in his last 16 at bats. Mike
Napoli and Stephen Drew both went hitless in four at bats each striking out
once.
The Sox left a total of 9 men on base and were
just 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
This is becoming a huge problem.
They are leaving way too many on base and not capitalizing with runners
on base. It’s starting to become a trend
and if the offense can’t get key hits with runners in scoring position they are
not going to keep winning games. Luckily
Lester was lights out last night but the pitching is greatly overshadowing the
hitting so far this season. The bats
need to get going in a big way.
There wasn’t much to say about the visiting Blue
Jays. The only one with a hit was Maicer
Izturis who doubled off of Lester in the sixth.
Other than that they could get nothing else going. Colby Rasmus and Adam Lind both struck out
twice.
The story of the day was Jon Lester. He improved to 5-0 on the season and lowered
his ERA to 2.73. The one hit shutout is
one of only 3 pitched this year.
Next up will be Clay Buchholz who has been very
good so far this season. He’ll be
opposed by Mark Buehrle who hasn’t been good at all yet for the Blue Jays. His ERA is in the sixes and he hasn’t looked
at all like the Buehrle of old.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP
Jon Lester.
With a complete game shut-out, Jon was spectacular on the mound Friday
night.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Mike Napoli.
The big guy went 0 for 4 with a strikeout on the night and has been very
quiet as of late. Maybe that just means
he’ll be heating up soon.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Daniel Nava’s 2-run double in the bottom of the
seventh which broke open the game. Nava
has 23 RBI on the year and seems like the only one that can continually get his
with runners on base.
NEXT
Today, Saturday 5/11 vs. the Blue Jays.
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