When the Red Sox needed him most,
Jon Lester couldn’t get it done. After a
long 14-inning affair in which the Sox depleted their bullpen, Lester needed to
put in a quality start to give the pen some rest. Unfortunately Jon suffered his worst outing
of the season as the Rays evened up the series at 1 with an 8-3 win on Tuesday
night.
With absolutely no command of his
pitches, Jon Lester tied a career high with 7 walks going just 4 and 2/3
innings giving up 8 hits and 7 runs. He
struck out 3 and needed 98 pitches to get through the short outing.
This is becoming a trend as in
his last five starts he is 0-3 with a 7.50 ERA.
Opposing teams are hitting at a .314 clip against him over that span. Every pitcher will go through rough patches
during the season and Lester seems to be in a prolonged funk right now. The good thing is that he and manager John
Farrell insist nothing is physically wrong with him and he just needs to have
better command with his pitches and just stop giving the opposing team free
passes.
The good news is that the bullpen
didn’t have to be exhausted for the 2nd straight day as Triple-A
call-up Jose De La Torre gave the Sox 3 and 1/3 innings of relief allowing only
2 hits and 1 run. He did walk 3 batters
but he also struck out 3 and was able to go the rest of the game when Lester
was lifted. This is a huge relief as the
Sox did not want to use anyone in the bullpen with no off days until next week.
In this day and age, walking 10
batters in a game will never get you a win.
Lester just didn’t have it last night and we have to hope that when he
takes the hill in 5 days he’ll have it figured out.
Offensively the Sox again started
out hot with 3 runs in the first 3 innings but Roberto Hernandez (formally Fausto
Carmona) settled down and with the help of relievers Joel Peralta and Jake
McGee shut the Sox out the rest of the game.
Overall the Sox had 8 hits on the
night but were 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 8
men on base. They grounded into
double-plays twice in the game to kill rallies, once in the top of the 2nd
by Stephen Drew and then again in the top of the 7th by Jacoby
Ellsbury.
Jacoby Ellsbury went 2 for 5 with
2 runs scored and stole his 27th base of the season. Jose Iglesias was back in the lineup at 3rd
and went 2 for 4 with a run scored. Mike
Napoli had one hit and 2 RBI.
The Sox will go for the series
win tonight as the sox call-up Alredo Aceves (2-1, 6.57 ERA) to step in for
injured Clay Buchholz. Clay will miss 1
start with a neck strain, hopefully, but you never know. Right now he’s on track to pitch Sunday in Baltimore
He’ll be opposed by Chris Archer
(1-1, 4.91 ERA). Archer is making his 3rd
start of the season and put it a very good effort last outing vs. the Orioles
(7IP, 2H, 1R, 2K). Sometimes the Sox
have trouble with a pitcher they’ve never seen before but this season they seem
to be beating up on rookies. Let’s hope
they can get to Archer early and often.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Jose De La Torre. De La Torre came in for Jon Lester in the
fifth and was able to last the rest of the game and give the bullpen some much
needed rest. He went 3 and 1/3 innings
but gave up only 2 hits and 1 run. I was
impressed how he attacked the strike zone and I don’t think it will be long
before we see De La Torre back at the big league level.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Jon Lester. I went over just how bad Lester was above and
how bad he’s been of recent. The Red Sox
need Lester to turn it around quick or they will not be going anywhere this
season.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Matt Joyce’s 2-run homer in the
bottom of the fifth that removed Jon Lester from the game. It put the Rays up comfortably 7-3.
NEXT
Tonight, Wednesday, June 12th
in 
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