With help from Big Papi doing
damage to the baseball instead of a dug-out phone, Jon Lester dominates the O’s
for a series win and puts the Sox back in 1st place in the AL East
as they win 5-0.
Lester went out and put on a
pitching clinic Sunday afternoon. He
went 7 innings, scattering 4 hits, walking 2 and striking out 8. There were hints that Lester may be getting
back to his normal self in his previous 2 starts but there was no denying what
was on display Sunday. Lester was Jon
Lester again and he dominated.
It was the best he’s pitched
since way back on May 10th vs. the Blue Jays when he threw a
one-hitter. With Clay Buchholz out
likely til mid-August, Lester’s resurgence would be a huge jolt to the team.
The gem turned in by Jon Lester
put them back into sole possession of 1st place in the East as the
Yankees were able to help the Sox out with a walk-off win against the
Rays. It was nice to win 2 out of 3 from
the birds as they’ve been haunting the Sox as of late.
Not to be outdone by Lester was
David Ortiz who had a rough night on Saturday killing a dugout phone. After going deep in the 3rd
inning, Ortiz playfully “attacked” the repaired dugout phone but didn’t
strike. He would finish the day perfect
going 4 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI.
It was Ortiz’s 20th homer of the season and he now has 12 straight
seasons of 20 plus homers and 421 on his career.
Mike Napoli had a good day as
well going 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run and 2 more doubles to give him 28 on
the year. Jarrod Saltalamacchia also
went 2 for 4 and drove in 2. Jacoby
Ellsbury went 2 for 4 with a run scored out of the leadoff spot and Shane
Victorino scored once as he reached base with 2 walks.
It wasn’t all that great offensively
for the Sox as they left 7 men on base and were 2 for 9 with runners in scoring
position. They left a lot of runs out on
the field but luckily Jon Lester wouldn’t need much support.
The bullpen nailed the door
closed as Matt Thornton and Pedro Beato finished off the last 2 innings giving
up only 1 hit and no runs.
Tonight, the Sox will go up
against the Tampa Bay Rays with 1st place on the line in a make-up
from last week. Felix Doubront (7-4,
3.78) will take the hill against David Price (5-5, 3.75) in a rematch of last
Wednesday’s starters. Price was downright
nasty that game going the distance with 4 strikeouts. Doubront wasn’t terrible going 6 and 2/3 with
5 K’s and only giving up 3 runs. The Sox
bats need to show up tonight to keep them in 1st.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Jon Lester. A dominate Lester will go a long way this
year, especially with the injury to Clay Buchholz.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Jose Iglesias. Iglesias went 0 for 4 and has seen his
batting average steadily drop in the last month. We all knew he wouldn’t hit .450 all year but
he’s in a bit of a slump right now.
PLAY OF THE GAME
David Ortiz’s 3rd
inning homer to put the Sox up 3-0. As
he was going around the bases, the Baltimore crowd booed him heavily. He put his finger to his lips to shush them
and then added 2 more hits on the night.
Lesson, don’t mess with Big Papi.
NEXT
Monday, July 29th, at home vs. the Tampa
Bay Rays.
No comments:
Post a Comment