Jon Lester was exactly what the
Red Sox needed Monday night. The big
lefty had one of his best outings of the season firing a gem that lifted Boston
to a 7-0 victory to start a tough road trip on the west coast.
Lester went 8 and 1/3 innings,
scattering just 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 3. He let up no runs and all 6 hits that he let
up were singles. His command on the
night was on point and he seemed to get ahead of most hitters.
Jon flew out a day ahead of his
team and got a good night’s rest in before the rest of the team arrived and it
seemed to help. I would like to see that
more often out of teams. It just makes
more sense for the pitchers that are going to go in the series to get a jump
start and let their bodies adjust to the time difference.
Brandon Workman struck out the
final 2 batters of the game and was also dominant in his short outing. The pitching was spectacular and hopefully
the rest of the starters can piggy back Lester’s performance and get a streak
going.
After the loss to the Yankees
Sunday night, John Farrell opted to not have the team fly out Sunday night and
instead go home and sleep in their own beds.
They then jumped on the 10:20 a.m. flight out of Boston and trekked six
hours to the other side of the country to San Francisco. Most of the team went straight to the ballpark.
Though they had to be tired, it
didn’t affect their performance.
The Sox banged out 12 hits and
scored 7 runs while also walking 4 times in the ball game. They were led by 3 hits from Shane Victorino
and Daniel Nava. Both also drove in a
run and Nava scored 2 as well. Both were
on base 4 times as Victorino was hit by a pitch and Nava walked.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia also had a
good night going 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored, an RBI and a walk. He also his his 34th double of the
season. Salty has been overlooked this
year but he’s batting .272 and has an OPS of .797.
Stephen Drew continued his hot
hitting going 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia each had a
hit in the game. Will Middlebrooks
walked twice and had a sacrifice fly.
The team as a whole was better
with runners in scoring position going 4 for 12 but did leave 9 men on
base. For a long road trip after a tough
loss to your rival, I expected the worse but this team is resilient and they
showed a lot of character tonight.
They’ll go back at it again
tonight as Jake Peavy (9-5, 4.41) will take the hill. He also went out early with Jon Lester so
hopefully the situation will mirror Lester’s performance tonight. He’ll be opposed by Ryan Vogelsong (2-4,
6.75). Vogelsong is fresh off the DL and
has only had 2 starts since missing about 3 months of time. He was terrible in his last outing giving up
3 runs on 6 hits while lasting only 3 and 2/3 innings.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Jon Lester. Lester put in a performance as if thought his
team would be tired and not give him any run support. Luckily he got some run support but he didn’t
really need it tossing a gem.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
David Ortiz. Ortiz went 0 for 5 at the dish with 2
strikeouts. Maybe he was more focused on
his defense as he got the start at first base.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Will Middlebrooks sacrifice fly
in the top of the 2nd inning to plate their first run. It would be the only one they would need with
a nasty Jon Lester on the mound.
NEXT
Tuesday, August 20th in San
Francisco vs. the Giants.
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