John Lackey was stellar yesterday
as the Red Sox completed a mini sweep of the Colorado Rockies with a 5-3 win at
Fenway Park.
It really shouldn’t surprise people
anymore because John Lackey has been doing this all year but yesterday was
something special. Lackey tied a career
high with 12 strikeouts as the big righty went 7 strong innings. He gave up 2 runs on 8 this but didn’t walk
anyone. It was his 9th
quality start in 13 appearances this year.
With Buchholz down with an injury and Jon Lester struggling right now,
Lackey has been their most consistent and reliable starter.
John Lackey’s fastball looked the
best I’ve seen it all year yesterday. He
continually hit 95 and attached the strike zone with it all night. He had 73 strikes on 98 pitches. His 12 strikeouts was the 14th
time he’s struck out double digits in a game and first since October of
2010. He struck out the side 3 times in
the game.
Offensively, the Sox stayed hot
with 5 runs on 10 hits. Shane Victorino
went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.
Dustin Pedroia continued his to be red hot going 2 for 4 with a run
scored. Big Papi went 1 for 2 with a
runs cored an RBI and also walked twice more.
Mike Napoli had 1 hit and 1 RBI
and Jacoby Ellsbury was 1 for 4 with a run scored out of the leadoff spot. Daniel Nava went 1 for 3 but drove in 2 runs
and Stephen Drew continued with his triple power going 1 for 4 with his 5th
triple of the year. It was his second
consecutive day with a triple.
The Sox did go 3 for 10 with
runners in scoring position and left 7 men on base but did enough to secure the
win for John Lackey.
Koji Uehara closed out the game
in the 9th with his 2nd save of the year but 1st
since being given the role last week. He
pitched a perfect 9th inning, striking out 2 and then bruising
everyone’s hand with his high-five assaults.
The Sox will welcome in the all
of a sudden relevant Toronto Blue Jays.
The Jays have been great as of late and are now a game over .500 (39-38)
and have been scorching hot as of late.
Chein-Ming Wang (1-0, 2.18) will
take the hill for them tonight. Wang’s
been good for them in 3 appearances so far this year and he used to kill the
Sox when he was with the Yankees.
The struggling Jon Lester (7-4,
4.57) will take the mound for the Sox.
He has been struggling as of late so hopefully the bats will stay hot
and give Lester some run support so he can work on getting out of the funk he’s
in.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
John Lackey. 12 K’s and dominant all day against a tough
Rockies lineup.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Salty was bad again yesterday going 0 for 3
with 3 strikeouts. He did walk once but
it may be time for the Sox to let Lavarnway get some time in behind the plate.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Top of the 6th, Lackey
struck out Tyler Colvin and then got Yorvit Torrealba to line out to end the
inning. The Rockies had homered to cut
the lead to 5-2 and had runners on 1st and 3rd with only
one out. Lackey bared down and got the
Sox out of the inning.
NEXT
Today, June 27th, vs.
the Toronto Blue Jays.
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